Guide Magic Find Tips/Tricks/Info

Hopefully this will be of use to people who may have had questions about how the Magic Find system works, and how you can use it to your advantage
This will NOT be a guide including many formulas/calculations; there are much better-written guides and info repositories for that.
This WILL be a guide more tailored to this particular server, and the practical uses/limits of customizing our Magic Find.

Some Abbreviations to Note:
MF - Magic Find
TC - Treasure Class
AT- Ancient Tunnels
DR/RF - Disused Reliquary, Ruined Fane
CS - Chaos Sanctuary
FH - Frigid Highlands
WSK - WorldStone Keep

How an Item Drop Works(Simplified)
When you kill a monster, the game rolls several dice(figuratively speaking) to determine what happens.
Your Magic Find is not applicable until the last dice in this calculation.
Dice 1: Does an item drop at all? (IMPORTANT!)
Dice 2: If so, how many will drop?
Dice 3: What items will drop? (Chosen from a list called Treasure Class, **The majority of this guide is focused here)
Dice 4: What is the quality of the item(s) being dropped? (Finally, our MF does something)

So as you can see from the example above; Magic Find increases the magic quality of an item dropped, not it's item class(normal, exceptional, etc)
Example: If a monster drops a white quilted armor with 0 MF equipped, If you now had 1000 MF and killed that same mob; it would still drop a quilted armor, but it might now be magic,rare, etc.
So again to clarify: this means MF will not increase your chance of an Elite item dropping(like a Sacred Armor or Diadem) - It will only increase the chance that item will be magic or better quality.

Things you NEED to know:
Lootable Chests, Runes, Jewels and Charms are NOT affected by your MF in any way shape or form.
If this is what you're hunting for, IGNORE MF COMPLETELY.
For example: A rune has no normal or unique form, a rune is a rune...and except for the specific cases; the same goes for a charm, jewel, etc - there is no normal form

Certain monsters are unable to drop normal equipment
These monster-types will be much more likely to drop things like runes or charms. Some of the important ones are Wraith-types(Souls are considered wraiths), Dolls and Rats - Anywhere with these mob types might influence your MF location choice.

Cows arent just good, they're greeeeaaaatt! (Oh wait...)
Cows also have an altered drop table which make them 3x more likely than even a wraith-type monster to drop runes. Pair that with the few dozen chests scattered around the map(which again aren't affected by MF) Cows easily become MF Paradise. Moo.

The amount of players in a game helps determine what drops
The number of players in your game or in your party, directly influences the chance of a "No Drop" happening when you kill a monster. As it sounds, a "No Drop" is a chance that the monster will drop absolutely nothing(except your hopes). In a 7+ player game for example, "No Drop" chance is 0%, they will always drop an item. More players in a game will also equate to a higher number of items being dropped from each normal monster (why charms,jewels, etc drop often in MP games). Note: This server uses nodrop=0 therefore solo farming will be as efficient as farming items in a full game.

Magic Find has diminishing returns; there will be a point when it is no longer realistically beneficial
I promised I wouldn't include or discuss too many formulas in this guide, so here is my ONE AND ONLY GRAPH:

The values on the left of the graph show your relative chance to find the item; On the bottom, the equipped MF on your character

For example using uniques:
100% effective MF means you are 2x as likely to receive that quality item from the monster. It would take approximately 175% equipped MF to achieve this.

Knowing this, we can see that for uniques; after about 500% MF, the return for our "Effective MF", is far outweighed by the needed "Equipped MF". You may also notice that magic quality items are linear, they have no diminishing returns on their drop chance. This can influence your farming decisions and MF targets greatly.
**NOTE: The base modifications done here to adjust drop rates allow you to use a lower MF value when farming specific bosses and unique monsters; as the server provides the remaining MF in a way.


Choosing your classes and MF spots:
Step 1: Choose your target item(s) - Before deciding on a character or a location; decide what you need/want. This will greatly influence your other choices later.
Step 2: Choose a character you enjoy! - Yes, some classes excel over others; However, if you have a fast MF'er with a class you don't like - is it worth it? ENJOY MF'ING!
Step 3: Choose a location that fits well with your above 2 choices - Now that we know what and who youre farming with, pick the easiest/fastest route you can, and kill.
Step 4: Rinse and Repeat until you're mouse or your morale gives out, whichever is first - Take a break; manage your stash, do some BH runs, chat/trade/relax.
We all want a perfect Griffon - but we all need to occasionally visit the real world also.

Generalized Info for Classes:
Amazon - Great for Cows, Chaos, and Baal runs due to Light Java and Bow clear speeds
Assassin - It's like the Sorc and Necro had a baby, and out popped a lightning spitting, corpse exploding nightmare. MooMoos and Baal will feel like cheating.
Barbarian - Great for earlier act runs like Pits,AT,Trav, Meph, due to Find Item skill and weaker survival when MF'ing
Druid - The silent killer of the bunch; not as fast as others, but its safe, and you get style points(I think?) Can just walk through places like Pits.
Necromancer - Undoubtedly the fastest MF'er if you are looking to shave every second from your run times.
Paladin - Hammerdins are your cheap, safe MF'er; Trav, Chaos, Baal, even cows if using aggro casts.
Sorceress - All-around amazing MF'er with many different builds and locations available

Map Labels:
TC87- Map contains end-game item drop table
Tele - Recommend a tele-capable build
Small - Map has small pathways that may influence AoE Example: Walls eat hammers.
Random - Map layout is generated randomly every game
Uniques - TC87 uniques are the focused drop result
CJR - Charms, Jewels and Runes are the focused drop result
Jewelry - Keys, Sojs, Rare Jewels, RBF's and other "small sellables" are the focused drop result
GF - Map is useful for Gold Finding
Sparkly - Map contains a sparkly chest
Rush/Clear - Recommend either rushing through the map to end, or clearing all monsters.
Undead/Immune - Helps indicate monster types or immunities
Wraiths/Dolls/Rats - Indicates the described monster type is present; increased rune drop rate.


Blood Raven
[Tele] [Jewelry] [Rush]
Is quick to get to, on the way to your first TC87 area(Mausoleum) and has a higher than average jewelry drop chance.
Recommended Classes: Fire/Cold Sorc, FoH/Salvo Pally, Ele Druid, Sin


Mausoleum
[TC87] [Tele] [Small] [Random] [Uniques] [CJR] [Jewelry] [Sparkly] [Undead] [Clear] [Elites: 4-5]
First TC87 area in the game, undead-only, sparkly chest, great place overall for cheap builds
Recommended Classes: Fire/Cold Sorc, FoH/Salvo Pally, Druid, Sin


Countess
[Tele] [Runes] [Jewelry] [Cold Immune] [Rush]
With characters like a light sorc, it can be a very quick way to score some lower HR's. Your source for Terror Keys
Recommended Classes: Light/Fire Sorc, Paladin


Pits
[TC87] [Random] [Uniques] [CJR] [Jewelry] [GF] [Varied Immunities] [Sparkly] [Clear] [Elites: 8-11]
Easiest overall TC87 area in the game, open to many classes and builds, Sparkly chest
Recommended Classes: Any! One of the few places every class can do without issue, due to the varied resistances and easy difficulty of the monsters.


Andariel
[Tele] [Jewelry] [Rush]
A quick and easy boss that will be favorable for rare jewels, occasional runes, and sojs.
Recommended Classes: Any Tele-Build *Unless you enjoy opening/closing exactly 16,314 doors every run


Ancient Tunnels
[TC87] [Tele] [Small] [Random] [Uniques] [CJR] [GF] [Jewelry] [No Cold Immune] [Sparkly] [Clear] [Elites: 6-8]
A cold sorc's second home, TC87 area, sparkly chest
Recommended Classes: Similar to Mausoleum(HINT HINT) Cold Sorc, Trapsin, Barb, FoH/Salvo Pally, Druid


Arcane Sanctuary
[Tele] [Jewelry] [Wraiths] [Rush]
A quick stop for your Hate keys, sojs, and occasional runes
Recommended Classes: Any Tele-capable build.


Travincal
[Uniques] [Jewelry] [GF] [Rush]
Amazing spot for general unique farming, runes, and RBF's; extremely quick
Recommended Classes: ANY! Small Static Map, Short run from WP, relatively open area


Disused Reliquary/Ruined Fane
[TC87] [Tele] [Small] [Uniques] [Rush]
A quick tele south from travincal; Both small TC87 areas with chests
Recommended Classes: Any tele-build (due to Kurast Causeway obstacles)


Mephisto
[Tele] [Uniques] [Jewelry] [Clear]
Paired with Travincal, hands down your best source for uniques, unfortunately not TC87 uniques.
Recommended Classes: Sorc, TrapSin, Hammerdin, Zon, Druid


Chaos Sanctuary
[TC87'ish] [Uniques] [CJR] [Jewelry] [GF] [Wraiths] [Clear] [Elites: 6-7]
One of the best MF places in the game for TC87 uniques, and runes. Get used to it. Be aware that the 3 seal bosses as well as Diablo, are NOT TC87-capable.
Recommended Classes: ANY! A static map with a relatively small fighting zone lets many classes take advantage of this potential treasure trove.


Frigid Highlands
[Jewelry] [GF] [Rush]
2x Super Uniques right by the FH wp, buff yourself and farm your quick targets before moving on
Recommended Classes: All but Cold Sorc; Not much to say, a stepping ground on your run anyways, cold sorcs just skip.


Halls of Pain
[TC87'ish] [Tele] [Small] [Random] [Uniques] [CJR] [Jewelry] [GF] [Sparkly] [Wraiths] [Clear]
A dense, TC87-ish area great for rune and set drops, unfortunately mlvl stops it from dropping your highly desired TC87 uniques from most mobs
Recommended Classes: Any Tele-Build besides hammerdin - The narrow passageways and varying map make maneuvering the biggest challenge, tele or bust for efficiency.


Nihlathak
[TC87] [Tele] [Uniques] [Rush]
The quickest TC87 boss you can kill; can also be extremely dangerous, Destruction Keys
Recommended Classes: As with Halls of Pain, I wouldnt recommend with a non-tele build...Hammerdins are fine here as opposed to Halls of Pain however.


Worldstone Keep
[TC87] [Random] [Uniques] [CJR] [Jewelry] [GF] [Wraiths, Dolls, Rats] [Clear] [Elites: 6-8]
Largest TC87 area in the game, relatively open area, path to baal, dangerous, enough said.
Recommended Classes: ANY! Large maps with dense TC87 monsters, including wraith mobs make full clears worth it; Pick who you enjoy or who can survive.


Baal
[TC87] [Uniques] [Rush]
No introduction needed - whether solo or in a party, BH and his throne minions are an amazing MF source.
Recommended Classes: ANY! There is no teleporting or running required; Kill the throne minions and then baal....sweet.


Cows
[TC87'ish] [CJR] [Jewelry] [GF] [Clear]
I feel the cows deserve a special note among all the MF locations in the game, especially on this server. Simply put, There are hundreds of TC87 monsters with low resistances, and huge spaces free of obstacles. On top of that, cows are about 3x as likely to drop runes, jewels, and charms due to them having an altered drop table. You will hear "Moo Moo" in your sleep.
Recommended Classes: Necro, Sorc, Zon, TrapSin *Although other classes can clear it quite easily, the clear speed of these classes are sub 2 minutes fairly easily.


Recommended Routes:
So we've gone over what our MF does, where good places to farm are, and what classes shine in what areas. It's time to put it all together and decide how you'd like to handle your MF runs.

I have 3 general categories I farm for, and here is how I break them down:
Charms/Jewels/Runes: CJR runs are all about speed, MF need not apply. Chests can also be a great source for these runs.
TC87 Uniques: The Griffon, TM, Death Fathom, etc that you can only get from m87/tc87 mobs
Jewelery/Sellables: SoJs, Keys, rare/RBF jewels, ammy, ring, etc

Personal Routes I use:
Looking for CJR: Cows. (2 minutes)
Looking for TC87 Uniques: Pits L2, CS, WSK, Baal (10 minutes)
Looking for Jewelery/Sellables: BR,Mausoleum, Count, Pit L2 only, Andy, Arcane, DR/RF, Trav, Meph, Portal A4 (6 minutes)

Notes on Routes:
Some areas that are generally great for MF'ing, I do not personally use due to class choice or ping.
For example: Lower Kurast is a great area for CJR due to it's easy to access superchests; Especially if you already running DR/RF and Trav. However, with my horrible ping - anything without autotele is like enabling picture slideshow mode for me. (Obviously not THAT bad, but you catch my drift)​

 

First of all excellent guide really useful for beginners who are trying to understand how magic find works,Where to mf and With which character.
Mention of %mf diminishing return i usually like to have 307 mf as always very unique number for me.
U can also mention the sparklechest in halls of pain+anguish.I found very beautiful Grandcharms off sparklechest while on the way to nithalaks.well basically
Act 1 object rune drop max=Vex act 2 object rune drop max=Ohm/Lo for sure I got Lo rune from At sparklechest.Act 3 object rune drop max=sur/ber act4 object max rune drop= jah/cham and act 5 object rune drop max=Zod
A person @Botlike found this last ladder Cham and ohm.

 

Thank you for your input, I have added the information you suggested; and attempted to clean up the guide some. Cheers.

 

Great guide, lots of good information and very clearly and effectively presented.

 

A lot of information, great effort on which I salute you, though I have a few questions, regarding your displayed information. You have mentioned that, and I quote: "Cows also have an altered drop table which make them 3x more likely than even a wraith-type monster to drop runes", which raises a question - can you provide any source/link to this? Because while I agree that killing cows are better than, for example Undead stygian dolls (HR drop wise), I'm quite sure that wraith type monsters has almost twice as better HR drop than cows (same goes to Charms and jewels), people just prefer cows because of their density in a same area. You also mentioned that cows are found in TC87 area but you forgot to mention that only Champion cows have Qlvl83, only Unique cows have Qlvl84 and normal cows only have Qlvl81 which doesn't do too much good for hunting high-end unique items' gear (By the way, CowKing's TC is extremely low, but that should go without saying I assume). You also mentioned that 7+ players party diminishes Nodrop, though It needs to be pointed out that such party must be in the same area. And as far as my knowledge goes, nodrop never goes below 1%, and in some monster' cases won't go below 3%.

 

I can create a separate post that breaks the odds down in a much more detailed fashion, but honestly I don't wish to clog this "Beginners" guide what that kind of info. Please let me know if that's information you guys would like. In the meantime, here are the drop odds(1% margin of error - rounding errors) for 1.13c vanilla - I will not release this specific servers drop odds without admin approval, so don't ask please.

HR Drops - Compiled

Travincal

• Vex- 1:2586
  
  
• Ohm- 1:2455
  
  
• Lo- 1:3683
  
  
• Sur- 1:3320
  
  
• Ber- 1:4980
  
  
• Jah- 1:4459
  
  
• Cham- 1:6689

Hell Cows

• Vex- 1:317
  
  
• Ohm- 1:301
  
  
• Lo- 1:451
  
  
• Sur- 1:407
  
  
• Ber- 1:610
  
  
• Jah- 1:546
  
  
• Cham- 1:820
  
  
• Zod- 1:2141

Hell Chaos

• Vex- 1:772
  
  
• Ohm- 1:733
  
  
• Lo- 1:1099
  
  
• Sur- 1:991
  
  
• Ber- 1:1486
  
  
• Jah- 1:1331
  
  
• Cham- 1:1997
  
  
• Zod- 1:5211

Hell Pits

• Vex- 1:1136
  
  
• Ohm- 1:1078
  
  
• Lo- 1:1617
  
  
• Sur- 1:1458
  
  
• Ber- 1:2187
  
  
• Jah- 1:1958
  
  
• Cham- 1:2937
  
  
• Zod- 1:7667

Just wanted to add that these figures are calculated directly from the game's data files(TreasureClassEx.txt, MonsterType.txt, etc) - so if you are looking for a "source", that's the truest source you will find. Again, i'd be happy to provide those and other advanced information in separate guides - although it likely has been altered some on this server.

You are correct - I did not label them as [Unique] or discuss it due to that exact reason; I'd be happy to clarify that however, thank you. I emphasized TC87 with cows, because although certain uniques are unavailable to them, all runes are.

You are partially correct. For every 2 players in-game, only 1 is needed in party to achieve the same result (drop-wise).
Example: 3 other players in your party, and within radius 30 would achieve the same 0% NoDrop as a 7+ player game
NoDrop will indeed be reduced to 0% once these requirements have been met. SuperUniques always drop 2 items, Uniques and Champions always 1, Bosses and normal monsters meeting the above requirements will have a 0% NoDrop, with normal monsters also getting a boost to the # of items dropped.
Again, please keep in mind though, that some of these Drop numbers may already be categorically false due to the modifications made on this private server. It should however, give everyone a good base understanding.

NoDrop Calculation

NewNoDrop=int( ProbSum/(1/((NoDrop/(NoDrop+ProbSum))^N)-1) ),
where N=int(1+AdditionalPlayers/2+ClosePartiedPlayers/2),
AdditionalPlayers — the number of all additional players in the game, where the monster is killed,
ClosePartiedPlayers — the number of players in your party near you (not far than two screens away),
ProbSum=Prob1+Prob2+Prob3+...+Prob10,
int — operation of truncating fractional part of a number.

​

 

I have added a few more mentions of custom parameters most likely being used on this server to help re-enforce that statement. Also, thank you for the suggestion - I have reverted to Left alignment, I appreciate all the input guys, keep it coming.

 

Hello im new i read everithing but i have quest about the graphic is that mean's everithing above 400mf is not necessary . for example i play only to find elit unique items nothing else i dont need runes,jewels,charms etc. i play with 900mf and merc +280 1180 and i find only amy set imtems(sacred armor green diadem green) ;( is that couse of too many mf ??

 

Welcome The graphic just helps show that MF has large diminishing returns, so while more MF always helps some - it reaches points where it might not be worth it.
As far as item quality goes, your "rolls" when an item drop happens always start at the BEST option(a unique). If the roll "fails", you get a set, if that fails, you get a rare.....etc etc.
So your MF% won't cause you to get a set instead of a unique.

To reach high MF%, you are likely making many sacrifices on gear/skillers; therefore you kill slower. For unique item hunting here, kill speed is more important than MF.
Example:
You average 5 unique drops per game(any unique), and it takes you 2 minutes to do the run with 1000% MF - Equals a unique every 24 seconds
You average 3 unique drops per game(any unique), and it takes you 1 minute to do the run with 200% MF - Equals a unique every 20 seconds

Those are just general examples - Find a balance between the two that you feel works well.
With the diminishing returns for MF, and the modified drop tables on this server most choose to focus more on kill speed.

 

Thanks for the fast answer

 

Hi! i do runs for runes/charms ect with a java zon that has like 80 mf and goes pretty wel, my question is about my soso, she has like 500+ mf will that be more likely to drop like say Griffon or enything like that? or did i not understand the thread correctly cuz of my language barrier? xd

 

If you're running bosses, mf % is less important, items will drop as unique as long as the base item has a unique equivalent. If you're running map mobs, mf% does play a role, but less than luck and persistence.

But, as I've mentioned in at least one other post, best approach is to run for whatever drops, and get the item(s) that you want by buying it on the market, with whatever you have from rune drops or selling stuff that dropped.

 

Can you tell me what characters are you doing these locations?

 

Does anyone understand, is it true that a large MF can increase the drop of a perfect unique items ???


Is a place called Pindleskin located can drop all items of all levels ?

 

MF doesn't affect the roll of stats on items.

Pindle is lvl86, he can't drop Azurewrath , Tyrael's and Arach because they require the monster to be lvl87 for them to be dropped.

 

And he is located in the red portal, next to Anya (act 5), after you rescue Anya and as long as you don't take the Halls of Pain waypoint with the character. If you have taken the wp, you can still reach him by teleporting back to Halls of Anguish -> Nihlathak's temple (and be ready for a heavy charge).

 

Farming Pits, should I just run to L2 and kill everything there? Or do I need to stop at bosses in L1 also?
Also, farming CS, do I kill the monsters along the way from River of Flame wp or do I just tp to CS?

 

May I ask also how possible item level of drops is determined?
I love to farm Council and it is stated that they are all 85 lvl / 78 TC and Mephisto is 87 lvl. And I do get Dracul's regularly from them (84 ilvl according to google). Does it mean that I can also safely hope to get Griffon (84 ilvl) or Templar's Might (82 ilvl) just farming Council and Mephisto?