Ultimate Guide compiled by Fellowship
Important Note: This guide was compiled in a PDF Document that is Pinned in the Repository of the Sanctuary Diablo 2 Resurrected Discord Server. It might appear a little bit more convoluted here but I edited it a little so it remains clear.
It is also important to note that this guide is a work-in-progress and more informations will be added over the course of time.
Mercenary Guide
Desert Mercenary / Town Guard (Act 2)The TOP 23 General Mercenary Facts
(1) The mod: Prevent Monster Heal does not work on mercenaries. It has no effect at all.
(2) Most other mods (Crushing Blow, Open Wounds, Chance to Cast on Striking, Faster Cast Rate, Faster Hit Recovery, Increased Attack Speed, etc.) do work for mercs.
(3) Mercs hired in normal difficulty have better final stats than those hired in Nightmare or Hell, and NM Mercs are better than those hired in Hell.
The exception is the Nightmare Act 2 mercs, which cannot be hired in Normal (or Hell). The actual "character" level that you hire the merc at is irrelevant, only the difficulty you hire them in matters.
(4) The highest level a merc can be is 98. Mercs skills have been downgraded slightly in 1.10 compared to 1.09 , with the exception of the Act 1 Rogue which will no do more damage.
(5) Act 5 mercs regenerate their health fully in 16.4 seconds, whereas all other mercs require 41 seconds.
(6) Poison can kill your merc, even if you are in town.
(7) Mercs benefit from +all skills items. They do not benefit from +class skills or +skill tabs. This was a feature in 1.08 and 1.09 Sadly in 1.10 this feature has been removed.
Mercs will benefit from:
+fire skills (when applicable)
+specific skills (if they already have the skills (e.g. an act 3 merc will benefit from an Ormus Robes' skill if he posseses that skill already, even though it says (Sorceress)
+ skills to Bash or Stun for the Barbarian as found on some items.
(8) Synergies. Some mercs skills synergize “ An example of this is the Barbarians Stun and Bash skills which synergize. Act3 Mercs skills also synergize. ( i.e. Glacial Spike with Ice Blast for the cold sorc)
(9) Related to the above, mercs are NOT affected by the Charge synergy bug (" Marrowwalk bug").
(10) When mercs levels up, their current life is set to their new base maximum life. So, if a merc is under life bonuses from Battle Orders, Oak Sage, or equipment, you will see thier life drop. Don't be alarmed when this happens, your merc isn't about to bite the dust.
(11) You can use healing potions or rejuvination potions on your mercenary by selecting a potion and dropping it on their portrait in the top left corner of the screen. Another way to do this is to hold Shift and press 1,2,3, or 4 - which correspond to your Belt slots. Yet another way is holding Shift and right-clicking on a potion in your Belt.
(12) Similar to giving a merc a potion using the portrait: you can give your mercenary equipment via the portrait. If they can use the item, it will work. If they are already wearing this type of item, it will be exchanged for the new one.
(13) Mercenaries do not have a mana pool, so mana potions do not work on them. If you try to shift + 1 method to feed your merc a mana pot, he/she will thank you, although you yourself will drink the potion. They are simply granted "infinite" mana to cast spells. So, mana burn monsters will also not affect them.
(14) If your merc is wearing either Gold Find or Magic Find gear, you will receive those respective bonuses to your drops when the merc makes a kill. Example, 100% MF on char, 125% MF on merc. If you make the kill, 100% MF is in effect. If the merc makes the kill, 225% MF is in effect.
(15) Ethereal items will not lose durability when equipped on a mercenary.
(16) The price of resurrecting your merc is capped 50000 gold.
(17) Their damage is penalized versus certain things:
CODE
Attacking Penalty
-----------------------
Players 17%
Hirelings 25%
Golems 100%
Monsters 100%
Minions 100%
Norm Act Boss 50%
NM Act Boss 35%
Hell Act Boss 25%
So they only do their full damage versus normal monsters, minions ( like a necromancers skeletons ) and Golems.
They do half damage versus all Normal Act Bosses.
35% Damage to NM Act Bosses
25% Damage to other players hirelings , and to Hell Act Bosses
And only 17% Damage versus other players in PvP.
They receive 100% damage from everything , except other players hirelings which will only do 25% of the listed damage to your Merc.
They receive 200% damage for Bosses “ that is why they can die fairly quickly.
Bosses include the following :
Blood Raven Griswold
Andy Radament
Summoner Duriel
Mephisto Izual
Diablo Nihlathak
Defilers Baal
Baal Clone
Diablo Clone
(18) Mercs cannot leach of Hell Bosses such as Mephi and Baal, and there is a bug when facing the council in Act III, Hydras will do a lot more damage than they should, there is no real way to negate this except to take your mercs resistances up above 75% with Guardian Angel.
(19) Mercs donot receive any life from + to vitality items, this is another minor bug, so only equip your merc with items that give actual + to life.
(20) Levelling “Mercs only get experience in 2 ways “ firstly if YOU make the kill they get normal experience, if they make the kill they get normal experience plus bonus experience “ calculated at roughly 2x. They receive no experience if you are in a party with other players and the other players make the kill.
They receive the most experience in an 8 player game, when you are not partied and they make the kill. As a quick reference the following table maybe of some assistance for levelling.
1-11-------A1
12-18------- A2
19-23------- A3
24-31------- A4
32-36------- A5
37-43------- Ni1
44-48------- Ni2
49-52------- Ni3
53-62------- Ni4
63-73------- He1
74-80------- He2
81-83------- He3
83-94------- He4
95-99------- He5
(21) Mercs are all hired at different Levels , their ranges very from :
Code:
Normal NM Hell
Rogue Scout: 3-7 37-40 67-71
Desert Warrior: 9-13 44-47 75-79
Eastern Sorceror: 15-19 49-53 79-83
Barbarian: 28-32 59-62 80-84
(22) Mercs Naturally have very high resistances , so therefore equip them with damage reduction gear instead of resistance gear.
(23) Mercs can now equip the following auras
Holy Freeze: found on 'Doom' runeword for polearms (Act II mercs only)
Holy Fire: found on 'Hand of Justice' runeword for all weapons.
Thorns: found on 'Bramble' runeword for armours.
Sanctuary: found on Azurewrath, unique Phase Blade. (act III/VI mercs only)
Thats the top 23 facts, what follows now is a more in depth look at each mercenary :
Act 2 Mercs
( 6 Types - 3 Available in Normal and Hell, and 3 Avaialable in NM )->A2 Town Guards are the most popular as they share an aura with not only your Character but with the entire Party. Sometimes the aura will not activate, if this happens then simply return to town then go back out.
-> Same Auras donot stack “ For example if you are a Paladin using might and your Merc is using might these will not add up, the game will simply cycle between the two.
- > Can use Spear, Javelin, and Polearm class weapons, except not the Amazon-only spears. They won't ever throw the Javelins.
Town Guard Equipment
Get him a big damage polearm. Mods to look for are: Crushing Blow, life leech, +life, resistances, Faster Hit Recovery, Chance to Cast amp damage or Decrepify, Slows Target (especially on Holy Freeze merc).
For Armor always go for Ethereal with useful mods , the Runeword Stone is very useful and popular as well. Any Armor with plus skills is also very useful as these will boost their skills.
Helms “ Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest is good at the start with its 10% Life Leach, when you find one upgrade to an Ethereal Crown of Thieves. An Ethereal Harlequin Crest wouldnt go amiss either although you will need to socket this with some form of Life leach.
Keep in mind that you cant leach off all monsters “ for example the undead.
Available Auras
Normal:
Combat = Prayer
Defensive = Defiance
Offensive = Blessed Aim
Nightmare:
Combat = Thorns
Defensive = Holy Freeze
Offensive = Might
Hell:
Combat = Prayer
Defensive = Defiance
Offensive = Blessed Aim
Prayer “ regens life , Defiance “ Increases Armor Class, Blessed Aim “ Increases AR , Thorns “ deals damage back to attacker , Holy Freeze “ Slows Monsters , Might “ Increases Melee Damage.
Offensive - Blessed Aim
Not the most popular aura for many characters, as most of the melee characters have sufficient skills to raise their AR and the Sorceress doesn't really need much AR as she hits with her magicical attacks. However for variant builds such as the Melee Sorc, Ranger (bow/ Crossbow Paladin) and Meleemancer (melee Necro) where AR is of critical importance, the Blessed Aim merc can be very useful. This merc can also be very helpful to Werebears who also suffer from AR problems. With the introduction of several new uniques items which grant AR (eh. Charges of Enchant, Zeal etc) in 1.10 though, the actual usefulness of such mercs has been somewhat diminished.
Defensive - Defiance
A high level Merc with this aura, and good equip, is very hard to hit, even in Hell diff. So a character who has hired such a merc is equally difficult to hit. The advantages of this are straightforward to any character, you'll get hit less often, therefore be less likely to die. This aura has a pronounced effect on the longevity of a Necro's minions, even when the Merc is of a low level. This aura is often a "must-have" for characters aiming to have a huge defence stat i.e. Ironman barbarians or for hardcore players. Just bear in mind that several of the monsters in 1.10 now have attacks that completely ignore defense.
Combat - Prayer
The life regeneration that this aura provides is probably only of use to most characters as a way to ignore the effects of poison or of life draining items (Malice runeword for example). However to characters with life steal and high resists, this aura is going to prove to be of little use, and if the merc himself has a life stealing weapon, then the aura won't be of too much use to him. It is probably best used for characters with no form of life leech(ie. casters). Still, it is probably better to just drink a potion.
This aura is of some limited use to the Necromancer and his minions as the continual life replenish will help keep them alive for much longer. In 1.10, the minions actually heal by themselves. I
Offensive - Might
A very popular aura for almost any character, as additional damage is always useful. The Merc himself will be doing a godly amount of damage at higher levels and quite happily tank for himself and for those who think that "the best defense is a good offense" this is the way to go.
This aura is probably of least use to a Sorceress as it does not add any benefit to her magical attacks, but should she run low of mana and be caught in a corner with only a melee weapon then, this aura will give her a chance of fighting her way free.
The effect of this aura on a Necro's minions can create a virtual wall of Death to descend upon the ranks of diablo minions. A few revived Frenzytaurs or raised skeletal warriors with a might aura on them can easily sway the tide of battle in the favour of the Necromancer.
A point to note is that even if you have a might merc whose lvl is sufficient to provide 100% extra damage this won't automatically double the damage of your character. The formula below from Nikodemous from the Paladin forum explains how your might mercs aura factors into your damage.
Lets say your weapon does 100 points of average damage. (that being the average of the minimum and maximum shown directly on the weapon). You have +100% damage from WW
200 str = +200% damage
and the might merc has lvl 7 might, which gives (40+6*10) 100% bonus.
Total damage is:
(100 * (100 [base] + 200 [str] + 100 [ww] + 100 [might]))/100 = 500 average damage
All elemental damage is added to the total, with no % bonuses on top.
Combat - Thorns
The essential problem with Thorns is that you have to be hit for it to take effect, though admittedly the effect at high levels can kill many normal monsters outright. In 1.10, with the high ratio of monster HP as compared to the damage they do, Thorns is more or less reduced to a novelty aura. It is nice to have around but not entirely useful.
The Necromancer Overlord is the character build that can make best use of this aura. With many minions running around the map all effected by Thorns and with the possibility of an Amp Damage curse as well, this can create havoc for boss monsters that use phycial attacks i.e Hephasto the Armourer, Duriel and the Ancients. By wading through the Thorns-aura'd minions to get to the player character, these boss monsters will take an awful lot of damage.
Defensive - Holy Freeze
Another very useful for aura for any player character, more so for the slowing effect on monsters than any damage done. The only other choice besides Defiance for hardcore player, this aura, at high levels, will bring many enemies to a near stop. Demon Imps stop teleporting all of the place, flayers slow right down and explody-headed Slayers are easily avoided. For characters using thrown weapons, bows or magic, the slowed monsters make ideal targets.
The Necromancer Overlord (or a Corpse Explosion Necro) is the class most disadvantaged by this aura, as the increased number of bodies that shatter upon Death greatly reduces the Necro's potential Revive, summon or Corpse Explosion fodder.
On Hell diff, cold immune monsters will still be slowed by this aura.
Important Note on Holy Freeze:
It seems that not all monsters are affected by this aura. Blood Lords, Moon Lords and Death Lords of act 5 seem resistant to its slowing effects. The Frenzytaurs are immune to freezing. So do not rely on your merc to slow these monsters down. Also its good to take into account the relatively small range of Holy Freeze eg. archers shooting.
Which Merc Should I use?
The only Merc you should never use is an Act 3 Lightning Merc as they are bugged.I will note a few options for each build , as remember Merc choice largely depends upon your playing style. There is no one perfect Merc for each build, ( well except for a summon necro perhaps )
Amazon Bow Elemental Damage
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control ( best for fire Amazon)
* ACT 2 Might “ For a Merc that will kill fast ( but his aura will not benefit you that much )
* ACT 2 Defiance “ to give you more protection if required.
Amazon Physical Ranged Damage (Strafers etc )
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might “ For a Merc that will kill fast ( plus aura is beneficial to your damage)
* ACT 2 Defiance “ to give you more protection if required.
* An elemental Merc “although only if u use Valkrie and Decoy.
Amazon Javazons ( Lightning Fury Etc)
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might “ For a Merc that will kill fast ( plus aura is partially beneficial to your damage)
* ACT 2 Defiance “ to give you more protection if required.
* An elemental Merc “ although dont use same element as you.
Assassin - Trapisin
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control (as you cant target enemies)
* ACT 2 Might “ For a Merc that will kill fast
* ACT 2 Defiance “ to give you more protection if required.
Assassin Martial Arts
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control (as you cant target enemies)
* ACT 2 Might “ For a Merc that will kill fast
* ACT 2 Defiance “ to give you more protection if required.
Barbarian Singer
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might “ For a Merc that will kill fast , extremely beneficial once you use Shout and Battle Orders on him.
* Elemental ACT1 or ACT3 Merc
Barbarian Physical Damage
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might “ To greatly enhance your own damage
* Elemental ACT1 or ACT3 Merc to deal with PI’s
Barbarian Magic Damage
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might “ To kill Magic Immunes and Kill in general.
* Barbarian, especially if you have Shout to get his defence up.
Druid Fire Druid
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might “ To kill Magic Immunes and Kill in general.
* Barbarian to use as a tank.
Druid Bear / Physical Damage
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might “ To kill Magic Immunes , increase your damage.
Druid Summoner
Choices :
* ACT 2 Might To kill Magic Immunes , increase your damage.
Druid Wind
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might For a Merc that will kill fast ( his aura will benefit you somewhat as your main attack uses 50% physical 50% cold damage.
* ACT 2 Defiance to give you more protection if required.
Necromancer Summoner
Choices :
* Act 2 Might Merc “ To increase damge of all skeletons.
Necromancer Bone
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might For a Merc that will kill fast ( but his aura will not benefit you)
* ACT 2 Defiance to give you more protection if required.
* Barbarian although Act2 is more beneficial
Paladin - Hammerdin
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control (as you cant target enemies)
* ACT 2 Might “ For a Merc that will kill fast ( but his aura will not benefit you) ( Plus your Blessed Aim Aura will benefit him)
* ACT 2 Defiance “ to give you more protection if required.
* Any Element Merc “ i.e Cold Act 1 Rogue, Fire Act3 Sorc etc)
Paladin - Tesladin
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control (as you cant target enemies)
* ACT 2 Might “ For a Merc that will kill fast ( but his aura will not benefit you)
* ACT 2 Defiance “ to give you more protection if required.
Paladin “ Physical Damage ( i.e Zealot)
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control (as you cant target enemies)
* ACT 2 Might “ For a Merc that will kill fast ( and to increase your attack damage)
* ACT 2 Defiance “ to give you more protection if required.
* Any Element Merc as a backup for PI.
Sorceress Single Tree
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control (best for non cold sorc)
* ACT 2 Might “ For a Merc that will kill fast (good for cold sorc)
* ACT 2 Defiance “ to give you more protection if required.
* Barbarian “ As most other auras dont benefit you “ plus fast life regen )
Sorceress Dual Tree
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might “ For a Merc that will kill fast
* ACT 2 Defiance “ to give you more protection if required.
* Barbarian “ As most other auras dont benefit you “ plus fast life regen )
Sorceress Tri-Elementalist
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might “ For a Merc that will kill fast
* ACT 2 Defiance “ to give you more protection if required.
* Barbarian “ As most other auras dont benefit you “ plus fast life regen )
Sorceress Enchantress
Choices :
* ACT 2 Holy Freeze “ For crowd control
* ACT 2 Might “ For a Merc that will kill fast ( and make you kill a fraction faster)
* ACT 2 Defiance “ to give you more protection if required. (not required though if you invested heavily in Cold Armor or Energy Shield.
Efficiently Rune Hunting
The fastest way to guarantee that a high rune will drop is an 8 player group in any of the level 85 areas - specifically, Chaos Sanctuary, Worldstone Keep, and the Cow Level, due to a higher monster density. However, that means that you'll be competing with 7 other players for grabbing that high rune when it does actually drop.Farming by yourself in a game with more than one player increases your odds of dropping runes, but it can also slow down the rate at which you kill monsters. Farming White mobs on players 3 yields about 30% more runes, but if it takes you 50% longer to kill those monsters, then it's not worth it. Going from players 1 to players 3 is a fairly significant boost in rune drop rate, but any further increases are a lot less noticeable.
Of course, there are other factors to consider as well. Are you farming only for high runes, or are you also farming for keys/essences/etc?
Ultimately, at the end of the day, the best answer I can give is this. Farm level 85 areas at the highest amount of players that you can play without slowing you down significantly. I would also advise against doing runs where you only kill a specific boss or miniboss (yes, even The Countess), or only farm super chests. Kill large packs on the way (especially wraiths) and any uniques that you find. This has the added benefit of being a lot less boring.
The best tip I can give that I have not seen echoed in threads where people give advice on rune hunting is to do the Cow Level. They are pretty easy to kill for most classes, have a high monster density, and have better odds than the average monster (about 50% better). Just watch out for that Cow King!
Best Farming Spots
In order
6- Eldtrich and Shenk (Lvl 84, 83, Cold Immunes)These are two of the easiest Bosses to Magic Find. You can easily access them at the beginning of Act 5, at Frigid Highlands and Bloody Foothills. One of the benefits to farm Shenk is once you kill him, a Meteor rains down destroying the rest of his minions. However, Eldtrich and Shenk always spawn as cold immune. This is limiting you to magic finding these bosses early in the game as a Fire Sorceress.
5- Andariel (Lvl 75, -50 Fire Resistances)
Andariel is the final Boss of Act 1 and she’s located in the 4th level of the Catacombs. She has a -50% fire resistance, resulting in an easy Boss to farm early in the ladder.Her drop table includes a variety of items that benefit almost any kind of character. Also, she is a great source of unique jewelry or powerful items such as Harlequin Crest, The Oculus or Viper Magi.
4- The Mausoleum (Lvl 85 Area)
It’s an 85 level area that you can find at Burial Grounds, outside of the Cold Plains. The Mausoleum is an ideal area for Magic Finding early in the ladder due to the absence of cold immune monsters. The enemies there are moving very slowly, making it a safe place to farm. The only downside is the low density of the monsters in comparison to other 85 level areas like the Pit or the Chaos Sanctuary.
3- Pindleskin (Lvl 86, Poison Immune)
Pindleskin is a super unique monster at Nihlathak’s Temple, reached via the Red Portal in Harrogath. Pindleskin and his minions are always standing in the temple that leads to the entrance of the Halls of Anguish. Any Fire or Cold Sorceress on a budget should be able to defeat him without much difficulty. One important tip to note: you don’t want to get the Halls of Pain Waypoint in Nihlathak’s Temple because you’ll lose the Red portal and the ability to run effective Pindleskin’s runs. He deserves a spot on our list because of the easy access and the chance to drop almost any valuable item in the game.
2- Mephisto (Lvl 87, 75% vs Every Elements)
He is the easiest endgame Boss to reach. Mephisto also has some of the best drop rates in the game for popular items like Arachnid’s Mesh and Harlequin Crest. He’s an excellent source for unique rings, amulets, and jewels. There is a chest you can open behind him as well. Mephisto is one of the best end game Bosses to Magic Find with the Sorceress because even a naked Blizzard Sorc can kill him using the “moat trick”. You can accomplish the “moat trick” by luring Mephisto to the Edge of the moat and then teleporting out of his sight. Then, just Rain Blizzards down to him even with a weak cold Sorceress, without to worry about dying.Being the easiest end-game Boss to reach, the large item drop table and the moat trick earned him a place in the list.
1- Ancient Tunnels (Lvl 85 Area)
It’s an 85 level area you can find beneath the Lost City in Act 2. Any item in the game can drop there. It’s also one of the few monster areas in Diablo 2 that doesn’t spawn cold immune enemies. Ancient Tunnels has a much higher monster density than the Mausoleum, resulting probably in the best area for Magic Finding with a Cold Sorceress in the early stages of ladder reset.
0- Secret Cow Level – Special Mention – (Level 81 Roughly 50% vs Every Elements)
While this area is not as good as the ones previously mentioned, it earns a special mention since the monster density there is really high and thus, can drop runes if lucky. Other good alternatives are Travincal and Lower Kurast.
Magic Find Ultimate Guide
I just wanted to start out by saying, while it is nice to have as much magic find as possible on your gear, if it slows your ability to kill monsters it is not worth it to have that much mf. While you have a better chance of a killed monster dropping a unique, set or rare, these magical classifications are determined after the base item to be dropped is determined. So, the Key to magic finding is to kill as many monsters as fast as possible, while wearing enough magic find equipment to increase the odds of items you want dropped without sacrificing this killing speed. But don’t forget that not having any, or having very low mf, will result in many socketable/White drops that are often more valuable than their unique/magical counterparts that could drop.Obviously, this guide repeats things stated in previous mf guides; this is simply to maintain a comprehensive view of mf in general. If you have been playing D2 for awhile, you may only be interested in the tc area listing and drop probabilities sections, but for those newer to d2 or just starting this should be an invaluable resource, covering everything for how to build a mfer from any character type, where to go with them and what to wear.
That having been said, I have organized this guide into the following sections:
I. Locations to magic find, items that can be gotten from them, and approximate probabilities of them dropping.
II. Character builds, gear recommendations, where to magic find with them, and mf evaluations.
III. Magic finding gear
IV. Diminishing Returns of magic find
V. What magic finding does not affect
I. Locations to Magic Find, Items that can be Gotten From Them & Approximate Probabilities of Them Dropping in Popular MF Areas
As you can see from the Items list, many of the highly sought after items are treasure classes (tc) 81 and above, meaning that while Mephisto(tc 78) can drop some very nice things, she cant drop anything in tc 81 and above. By the way, only use this link for the sections marked 1.10; all the monster/boss treasure class listings are wrong!
So that you don’t tear your hair out simply trying to get to monsters like Baal and Nithilank that drop in these higher treasure classes, there are some very important areas worth listing that are all treasure class 85 in hell; except where noted, champions in these areas are tc 86 and unique monsters in these areas are tc **(can drop anything in the game):
Act1
The Pit ( Tamoe Highland) Cold, Lightning and Fire Immunes. Take the Outer Cloister wp from the Rogue Encampment. Exit the Outer Cloister and go back into the Tamoe Highlands; if you follow the path it will split eventually with one fork leading to the pits and one fork leading to the Black Marsh. On rare occasions the pits entrance is not connected to the path, but it is usually still right nearby.
The Masoleum ( Burial Grounds)- Lightning Immunes. Take the Cold Plains wp from the Rogue Encampment. Follow the path; it will split with one fork leading to the Stony Field, and the other fork leading to the Burial Grounds. Enter the Burial Grounds and make sure you enter the Masoleum, not the Crypt(only tc83)..
Act II
Maggot Lair ( Far Oasis)- Poison & Lightning Immunes. Levels 1 & 2 are tc84(bosses here are tc87) while level 3 is tc85. Take the Far Oasis wp from Lut Gholem. Circle the map section until you find the stairs leading into the other section of the Far Oasis; the Maggot Lair is usually not in the section of the Far Oasis where the wp is.
Ancient Tunnels ( Lost City) Lightning, Fire, Magic and Poison Immunes. Take the Lost City wp from Lut Gholem. Search all building areas until you find the trap door to the Ancient Tunnels. The location is random, but it is often in the other section of the Lost City area(like the Far Oasis); just follow the Edge until you find the stairs.
Act III
Sewers ( Upper Kurast). Level 1 is tc84(bosses here are tc87) and level two is tc85.
Forgotten Temple ( Upper Kurast)- Fire, Lightning, & Cold Immunities.
Ruined Fane & Disused Reliquary ( Kurast Causeway) - not too sure about immunities here as I have never mf’ed them personally; not the biggest tc 85 areas really. I saw a post somewhere about these and immunities there; I’ll update this when I find it.
Durance Level 3 -All monsters besides Mephisto(tc78) are tc84; bosses here are tc87 meaning the council and blood lords can drop better things than Mephisto- Uniq council members spawn with varying immunities here though; rest are fire immune.
Act IV
River of Flame/ Chaos Sanctuary- Act IV- Poison, Fire, Cold and Lightning immunities exist here. Many people take the River of Flame wp here and just do the second half of the River of Flame and into the Chaos Sanctuary, but then you miss the whole first half of one of the biggest level 85 areas in the game. Take the City of the Damned wp; it is always right next to the entrance of the River of Flame entrance, that way you get to go through the whole thing without back-tracking. The River of Flame also lacks the Oblivion Knights that curse you with Iron Maiden in the Chaos Sanctuary, so its melee friendly! The one downfall to River of Flame is that the stranglers, maggot young & grotesque wyrms do not drop items, but there are plenty of Venom lords, maw fiends, abyss knights, and grotesques that do so don’t let this discourage you.
Act V
World Stone Keep, Act V (lvls 2 & 3). Fire, Cold, Poison and Lightning immunities exist depending on what monsters spawn here.
Throne of Destruction, Act V - Fire, Cold, and Poison Provided you can get past lightning immune characters in WSK levels 2 & 3, this is where Lightning sorcs and LF Javazons will really shine.
Fellowship
256