Hit 400 Magic Find Fast & Cheap (MF Guide)

Magic Find Guide: Slot-by-slot guide for stacking high MF fast & cheap

Magic Find (MF) dramatically increases the Magic, Rare, Unique & Set items that drop as you slay demons!

Important Magic Find Facts:
1. First 100 MF is worth as much as the next 200. (Every little bit helps a ton at first!)
2. MF has significant diminishing returns after 300 for everything but Magic items. (See MF Curve Below)
3. When stacking MF, first consider if it will reduce killing speed and/or survivability by too much. If you can kill much faster (or spend less time dying), its not always the best thing to just add more Magic Find.
4. Keep extra MF gear in your other weapon slots and swap to them right before you kill a Boss. MF is only calculated on killing blow.
5. If your Mercenary gets the killing blow, their MF is added to yours.
6. MF does NOT help Rune drops or increase number of drops, only the item quality.

Try this Item Finder for exact drop chances for every item in the game with and without MF:

1. Cheap & easy-to-find MF Gear Per Slot

Cheap & Easy-to-find Gearing Options:
Helm: 3

Perfect Topaz (buy 3os from

Larzuk @ lvl 39) (72 MF)
Armor: 4

Perfect Topaz or Wealth (96 - 100 MF)
Boots/Amulet: 2-piece Tancreds Set (78 MF)
Rings:

Nagelring's (40-60 MF)
-Or Angelic Raiment 3-piece Set bonus gives 50 per ring (100 MF)
Belt:

Goldwrap (30 MF)
Gloves:

Chance Guards (25-40 MF)
Shield: Rhyme (

Shael +

Eth) (25 MF, cannot be frozen)
Charms: Small Charms (3-7 MF each) Large Charms (1-6 MF each) & Grand Charms (1-12 MF each)

Gheed's Fortune (20-40 MF)
Weapon: Dealers choice! Probably Spirit Sword
-Or

Gull

Dagger (100 MF)
(drops from

Coldcrow (Cave >

Cold Plains), Cow King(N),

Andariel(N) or gamble at lvl 11)
-Or

Blade Of Ali Baba (1 MF per clvl) (1-99 MF)
(drops from

Baal(N) &

Andariel(NM))

Mercenary Gear:
Note: If merc gets killing blow, their MF is added to yours
Helm:

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest or

Vampire Gaze w/

Perfect Topaz (24 MF)
Amor: Treachery (he will probably die a lot with MF armor)
Weapon: Insight (23 MF)

2. Even CHEAPER Alternatives

Even Cheaper Alternatives: (still break 300 MF)
Note: pick up/keep all trash blue rings & amulets to reroll them in cube. 3 amulets = 1 ring and visa versa
Helm: 3

Flawless Topaz (60 MF)
Armor: 4

Flawless Topaz (80 MF)
Boots: MF

Boots bought from

Elzix in (A2) (20-35 MF)
-Or Sigon

Boots with 3-piece bonus gives (50 MF)
Amulet: Magic/rare amulet (15-35 MF)
-Or Vidala's Amulet 2-piece set bonus gives (50 MF)
Rings: Magic/rare MF rings. (32-50 MF)
Belt: Artic

Belt 2-piece set bonus gives (40 MF)
Gloves: MF gloves bought from

Elzix (A2) (15-25 MF)
Shield: Rhyme (

Shael +

Eth) (25 MF, cannot be frozen)
-Or

Milabrega's Orb has (20 MF)
Charms: Small Charms (3-7 MF each) Large Charms (1-6 MF each) & Grand Charms (1-12 MF each)
Weapon: Dealers choice! Probably a nice +skills weapon or Spirit
-Or

Gull

Dagger (100 MF)
(drops from

Coldcrow (Cave >

Cold Plains), Cow King(N),

Andariel(N) or gamble at lvl 11)
-Or

Blade Of Ali Baba (1 MF per clvl) (1-99 MF)
(drops from

Baal(N) &

Andariel(NM))

3. Best Places To Magic Find (Uniques, Runes, Uber Keys, Sets)

Farming Uniques & Sets: (NM = Nightmare, H = Hell)
-

Andariel (NM-H)
-

Mephisto (NM-H)
-

Ancient Tunnels (H) /

Mausoleum (H) [NO Cold Immunes]
-Pindelskin (H) >

Eldritch the Rectifier (H) >

Shenk the Overseer (H)
-The Pit (H) (Cave in A1

Tamoe Highland)

Farming Runes, Uber Keys & Bases:
-

The Countess (NM-H,

Key of Terror)
-

Travincal (H, Runes)
-

Secret Cow Level (H, Elite Runeword Bases)
-

The Summoner (H,

Key of Hate) (Open chests at end of each platform for runes. You won't mind 4th-waying as much)
-

Lower Kurast (H) (open chests/logs/stashes)
-

Nihlathak (H,

Key of Destruction)

Refer to the Item Finder for specific loot drops and odds in each area

Source

Great guide. I just wanted to highlight the graph you posted and say how important your first % of magic find are.

It might seem like 'oh I don't have a full set of MF gear so why put it on at all' but that graph is saying the opposite. Basically the first ~100% MF is worth as much as the next 200% MF (or ~300% total) since there are diminishing returns.

In other words, any amount of MF is better than no MF. For example, that ~5% item that brings you from 0 to 5% MF is more important than a

Perfect Topaz vs

Ist rune when you have 500% MF.

nyRo wrote: 3 years ago

Basically the first ~100% MF is worth as much as the next 200% MF (or ~300% total) since there are diminishing returns.

Very good point. I will edit the OP to include this fact. Thanks for the input!

Great write up. I refresh vendor shops until finding 20+ Mf gloves and 30+boots every season start. Same with picking up or gambling magic rings/amulet.

Easy start to MF before you find uniques.

Very nice guide man thank you for the time you put into it.

(The detailed graph was nice)

Mercernary wrote: 3 years ago

(The detailed graph was nice)

Ya diablo wiki has great detailed pages on everything.

I had no idea Magic Find had diminishing returns for so many years lol.

BMAY wrote: 3 years ago

Easy start to MF before you find uniques.

Yea i love stacking tons of MF really early because it makes the journey so much more fun to see a lot more rares, uniques & sets. i honestly hate traditional farming. Meph or Andy runs 10,000+ times just to find certain stuff. meh. no thanks.

I always stack the Tancreds 2-set bonus with Angelic double Rings and Sigons

Boots for 228 MF starting at lvl 20.

6. MF does NOT help Rune drops, it actually makes it worse.

I believe this is false and should be corrected.

The roll to determine whether an item or a rune will drop happens before any MF is taken into consideration.

Therefore MF has zero relationship to rune drop, it does not make it better or worse. Runes are calculated entirely separately.

BMAY wrote: 3 years ago

Therefore MF has zero relationship to rune drop, it does not make it better or worse. Runes are calculated entirely separately.

That's strange, I actually got that information about it hurting the chances directly from one of the top D2 streamers, something about it effecting "no drop" chance? Guess it's my fault for not fact-checking it. thanks, fixed.

Thanks for a great post.

I have a question though, getting magic find gear comes at the cost of resistance right? how high areas can you farm with this kind of magic find? would this be feasible in all areas of hell difficulty or do you have to restrict yourself to easy areas (like the pit in Act 1 etc.)? up to how much resist can you have when using such gear? kindly share please!

ZulFury wrote: 3 years ago

I have a question though, getting magic find gear comes at the cost of resistance right? how high areas can you farm with this kind of magic find? would this be feasible in all areas of hell difficulty or do you have to restrict yourself to easy areas (like the pit in Act 1 etc.)? up to how much resist can you have when using such gear? kindly share please!

Oh think of this much more of as an MF-per-slot guide. So you can decide what slots you want more MF in or not. I wouldn't suggest actually using 100% of this gear, you'd be made of glass even in Nightmare lol.

For instance, My Blizzard Sorc just has a few of these items and shes at around 240 MF. But i still use Spirit sword/shield,

Belt with +98 life, Smoke armor. ext

Since the diminishing returns for MF kicks in around 250-300 i don't personally see any reason to stack more than that unless you're D2-rich. lol

with 240MF can you do

Baal runs in Hell for example or do you have to swap your gear for that?

ZulFury wrote: 3 years ago

with 240MF can you do

Baal runs in Hell for example or do you have to swap your gear for that?

I wouldn't do Hell

Baal runs if you're farming. (unless you're just leeching public games)

Do

Ancient Tunnels (no cold immunes) > Pindle > Eldritch > Shenk runs in Hell. Or

Andariel and

Mephisto drop pretty much anything you'll want in Hell as well. That's what i do and i don't have to gear swap.

Hell Cows is also another great option. Tons of elite bases and possible rune drops.

thanks for the reply! I'll keep that in mind

What if I am looking for etheral bases for runewords. Should I target 0 (zero) magic find ?

love this guide for newbies, but with this 400MF build, nowhere could be the farming location, keep MF around 200 to 300 and deal some damage will made farming experience easier =p

brekol wrote: 3 years ago

What if I am looking for etheral bases for runewords. Should I target 0 (zero) magic find ?

That is my understanding yes and I think cows is great for looking for bases. Ironically I remember finding my first

Shako doing Hell cows looking for bases with 0 MF.

sako1031 wrote: 3 years ago

love this guide for newbies, but with this 400MF build, nowhere could be the farming location, keep MF around 200 to 300 and deal some damage will made farming experience easier =p

This is not a build, it’s a guide. If you read it, it says exactly this in the important tips section. Lol

LockeDown wrote: 3 years ago

That is my understanding yes and I think cows is great for looking for bases. Ironically I remember finding my first

Shako doing Hell cows looking for bases with 0 MF.

Yep, more MF means less White/grey items and more of the colorful stuff

BillyMaysed wrote: 3 years ago

i honestly hate traditional farming. Meph or Andy runs 10,000+ times just to find certain stuff. meh. no thanks.

This game teaches you something about yourself. I've learned something about myself. I can never get into gambling because I'll lose my damn house.

I'm just gonna sit down and run

Mephisto a couple of times before bed.

6 hours later

just one more pull of the

Mephisto slot machine

I swear this one is my last run

just one more

BillyMaysed wrote: 3 years ago

BMAY wrote: 3 years ago

Therefore MF has zero relationship to rune drop, it does not make it better or worse. Runes are calculated entirely separately.

That's strange, I actually got that information about it hurting the chances directly from one of the top D2 streamers, something about it effecting "no drop" chance? Guess it's my fault for not fact-checking it. thanks, fixed.

MF has nothing to do with rune drop since rune drop are separated. MF only 'colors' the item drop, higher MF better color.
But number of players actually affect rune drop, more players better drop rate.
The exception is countess special rune drop, high pp would reduce the regular item nodrop rate which will take place of her special rune drop.

Beardozer wrote: 3 years ago

I can never get into gambling because I'll lose my damn house.

yes i feel the same way. i grew up in Las Vegas and only went gambling once. It was way too addicting and all the homeless people everywhere there suddenly made sense. lol