Diablo III Farming Guides and Farming Routes

Item Pick-up philosophy: Too many trips to town can kill run speed. I pick up all rare ilvl 61+ items, and of course any legendaries that drop. I also always pick up gems. (As well as demonic essences, but thats a given)

Guide:

Optional Step 0) Start a game using "The Imprisoned Angel - The Cursed Hold" quest per a normal butcher run. Once the game starts, WP to the northern highlands and run west. If the watch tower didn't spawn (25-50% spawn rate dungeon with 1-6 elite mobs, 0-1 resplendant chests, and 0-1 treasure goblins) re-make the game. If it did spawn, we'll come back with 5 stacks (since treasure goblins respond to stacks).

Edit: Here's a pic of what to look for. It's often a bit further from the WP, but always on that western edge:http://i.imgur.com/dNOng.jpg

Step 1) Go to the festering woods. There are 2 guaranteed small dungeons with a champion pack in each. You should find at least 1 champion in the area. Town portal out and way point back inbetween.
Step 2) With 2-3 (probably 3) stacks, go to the cemetary. There are 3 small dungeons each with 1-2 champions. Since they might only have one, leave (town portal -> waypoint) as soon as you kill the first). This gets you to 5 stacks. Clear all the tombs even if you get 5 early.
Step 3) WP to leoric's manner. Run through the manner (0-1 packs) and outside. The courtyard has a guaranteed pack.
Step 4) Butcher run as normal. You'll get several packs, maybe a goblin or two and the warden and butcher drop well enough to be worth killing.
Step 5) WP back to the northern highlands and clear the watch tower.
Step 6) Optional - go to each other WP and check for very close / obvious champion packs.

A note on large areas: Patch 1.0.8 update: Monster density has been increased, so most areas are worth searching these days, large areas, small areas, caves, all contain a lot more mobs than before, and in the future blizzard has said they will also be buffing any remaining areas that do not have good mob density.

Act I and Act II Rare Farming Guide

Submitted by al780555.

I can farm Act II effectively now and Act III mobs still hit too hard for rare farming. These routes are made from a barbarian's viewpoint, but the route should be able to be completed by any class.

Act I farming route is basically quickly finding 5 rares and rush to SK for rare drops.

Open a game with the quest Royal Crypts (Reign of the Black King)
Run to the outside of New Tristram
Find the 2-3 rares that spawn just outside and kill them
TP back and use the way point to Cathedral Level 3 and kill at least 1 rare packs that spawn in it and move to level four
Kill the one rare that spawns in Level 4
Rush to SK and kill them

This route should be under 20 min and will get you 3-5 rares depending on your luck and MF. Sometimes there will only be 4 are packs in this route and it is up to you if you want that fifth or speed. There is a high chance you can farm a lot of armor that you can either use or sell well on the AH. The mobs in Act I can drop sovereign armors and with luck they will have really good stats.

My Act II farming route is quickly finding rares near waypoints to farm them. Open a game with the quest "Unexpected Aliies"

Kill the rare that spawns in it, if it has a hard combo then you might want to skip it.
TP to "Road to Alcarnus" and go into Alcarnus and kill the 2-3 rares that spawn in it, they are usually very easy ones to kill and should not give you any problem even if you are under geared for it.
TP to Black Canyon Mine and find the 1-2 rares that spawn near the waypoint, sometimes there won't be any just skip it.
Restart and repeat.

This route should also be under 20 min if the rares don't give you too much trouble. The main point of this route is to quickly determine how much time you will need in order to kill the rare packs, and sometimes even the possibility of it.

You will need to skip some mobs in favor of time and this is where farming Act I should still be done if you want efficiency. The only reason to do Act II should be because of the weapon drops. The items that are definitely better in Act II are the rare weapons, armors in Act I are a lot of the times better than Act II.

When you are going to attempt to kill the goblins in Act II make sure you clear EVERYTHING around it then start it. You will need a lot of damage to kill it and sometimes it is worth it to change spells and give up buff to kill it(depending on your play style and class).

Note: These runs are just for speed, if you want good drops then go farm Magda. Oasis is also a very good choice too.

Another Diablo III Farming Route:

Go to Leoric's manor.
Go backwards and do the watchtower.
Go farm your way until the Warden and kill him with 5 neph.
Kill the butcher.
Go back and search for specific superuniques that you know have a pretty good spawnchance/checktime.

Highlands Crossing:

If you are desperate and can't seem to farm Act 1 Inferno, try going to Highlands Crossing and killing elites there. Should not be too tough.

More Farming Tips:

Blacksmiths Wife + Dank Cellar
Butcher + Warden with 5 stack valor buff (Get buff quickly in graveyard along with uniques leading up to butcher and warden).
Alcarnus Resplendent Chest (Only 50% now)
Magda 5 stack valor buff (What I personally do now). Get buff in various areas up to Alcarnus, Magda is easy enough to kill.

Butcher Inferno Youtube Videos

Submitted by Soy Beans

If you have any farming routes, tips or guides, please post them in the comments section below or use our submission form. Thanks for your contributions!