What are terror zones
Terror Zones offer better drops and increased experience gain that normal zones. This is because the Area Level (
alvl) and Monster Level (
mlvl) of a terrorized zone is much higher than when it is in a non-terrorized state, granting increased XP and higher-quality item drops. Game creators can enable (or disable)
terror zones when creating a game.
Terror Zones last for one hour and span all difficulties. They change on an hourly basis -
at the top of the hour every 30 minutes (since Reign of the Warlock) - where a chat message appears naming the zones that are now terrorized. Use the
Terror Zones Tracker to see which zones are active now, and which are due to become terrorized in the future. Use the
Areas Database to filter by areas that can be terrorized, and their monster immunities. See the
Terror Zones Tier List for the best ones to run (in terms of XP).
How alvl and mlvl change when a zone is terrorized
When an area is terrorized, the
alvl (and
mlvl for
base +
champion +
unique monsters, but
not superuniques) of the area is determined by the game creator's Character Level (
clvl) - providing that
clvl is not less than the
alvl was already at this difficulty. A modifier based on the difficulty and monster type is then applied, and is capped to a set amount per difficulty. This also applies to chest/clickable drops:
| Difficulty |
mlvl modifiers when terrorized |
| Normal Difficulty |
Base: +2 levels up to level 45
Champion: +4 levels up to level 47
Unique: +5 levels up to level 48 |
| Nightmare Difficulty |
Base: +2 levels up to level 71
Champion: +4 levels up to level 73
Unique: +5 levels up to level 74 |
| Hell Difficulty |
Base: +2 levels up to level 96
Champion: +4 levels up to level 98
Unique: +5 levels up to level 99 |
How this affects item drops
The
mlvl of monsters inside a terrorized zone will never be smaller than the original
mlvl were the zone not terrorized. If a game creator leaves the game, another player is randomly chosen, whose
clvl is then used to dictate the
mlvl of the terrorized zones. If the designated player's
clvl is at least 85, any
base type monster can drop any
Unique or
Set item in the game.
How this affects experience gained
It should also be noted that these increases in
mlvl not only increase the treasure class of monsters, but also the experience they provide on
Death. The base experience of these monsters can be as high as 5x the original value in the difficulty being considered, and if you are level 99, then every single monster will be worth 100% of it's experience value (because if you are a higher level than the monster then it is worth less XP, but if you are the same level, it's worth 100%).
Zones that can become terrorized
To see a list of all
terror zones that can be terrorized,
click here. You can also filter by presence of immune types, absence of immunity types, waypoint availability, base
alvl etc. Alternatively, you can find a list of these zones by act in the table below, ordered within each act by base
alvl in Hell difficulty (lowest to highest):
| Act |
Zones that can become terrorized |
| Act 1 |
Blood Moor, Cold Plains, Stony Field, Dark Wood, Underground Passage Level 1, Black Marsh, Barracks, Jail Level 3, Jail Level 1, Jail Level 2, Cathedral, Catacombs Level 1, Catacombs Level 2, Catacombs Level 3, Catacombs Level 4, Tower Cellar Level 1, Tower Cellar Level 2, Tristram, Cave Level 1, Tower Cellar Level 3, Cave Level 2, Tower Cellar Level 4, Den of Evil, Tower Cellar Level 5, Hole Level 1, Burial Grounds, Hole level 2, The Secret Cow Level, Crypt, Pit Level 1, Pit Level 2, Mausoleum, Underground Passage Level 2 |
| Act 2 |
Sewers Level 1, Sewers Level 2, Sewers Level 3, Rocky Waste, Dry Hills, Far Oasis, Lost City, Valley of Snakes, Halls of the Dead Level 1, Arcane Sanctuary, Tal Rasha's Tomb, Halls of the Dead Level 2, Halls of the Dead Level 3, Claw Viper Temple Level 1, Claw Viper Temple Level 2, Stony Tomb Level 1, Stony Tomb Level 2, Ancient Tunnels |
| Act 3 |
Spider Forest, Spider Cavern, Great Marsh, Flayer Jungle, Flayer Dungeon Level 1, Kurast Bazaar, Flayer Dungeon Level 2, Travincal, Flayer Dungeon Level 3, Durance of Hate Level 1, Durance of Hate Level 2, Durance of Hate Level 3, Ruined Temple, Disused Fane |
| Act 4 |
Outer Steppes, Plains of Despair, City of the Damned, River of Flame, Chaos Sanctuary |
| Act 5 |
Bloody Foothills, Frigid Highlands, Arreat Plateau, Crystalline Passage, The Ancients' Way, Frozen River, Nihlathak's Temple, Halls of Anguish, Glacial Trail, Halls of Pain, Halls of Vaught, Abaddon, Pit of Acheron, Drifter Cavern, Icy Cellar, Worldstone Keep Level 1, Worldstone Keep Level 2, Worldstone Keep Level 3, Throne of Destruction, Worldstone Chamber |
Zones that cannot be terrorized
Some zones can never become terrorized - this includes towns like
Rogue Encampment, and a few other zones - see the list below for those, again by act with each individual zone ordered by its base
alvl in Hell difficulty (lowest to highest):
| Act |
Zones that cannot be terrorized |
| Act 1 |
Tamoe Highland, Monastery Gate, Outer Cloister, Inner Cloister |
| Act 2 |
Harem Level 1, Harem Level 2, Palace Cellar Level 1, Palace Cellar Level 2, Palace Cellar Level 3, Canyon of the Magi, Tal Rasha's Chamber, Maggot Lair Level 1, Maggot Lair Level 2, Maggot Lair Level 3 |
| Act 3 |
Lower Kurast, Upper Kurast, Kurast Causeway, Arachnid Lair, Swampy Pit Level 1, Swampy Pit Level 2, Swampy Pit Level 3, Kurast Sewers Level 1, Kurast Sewers Level 2, Forgotten Reliquary, Forgotten Temple, Ruined Fane, Disused Reliquary |
| Act 4 |
All zones in Act 4 can be terrorized |
| Act 5 |
Frozen Tundra, Forgotten Sands, Furnace of Pain, Matron's Den, Uber Tristram, Infernal Pit, Arreat Summit |
Use the
Terror Zones Tracker to see which zones are active now, and which are due to become terrorized in the future.
Diablo 2 Resurrected Terror Zones Guide 
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