How to reach the Secret Cow Level

• Diablo 2 Cow Level Nightmare
• Diablo 2 Cow Level Nightmare
• Diablo 2 Experience Chart
• Diablo 2 Cow Level Experience
• Diablo 2 Cow Level Experience

Diablo 2 Cow Level Nightmare

Prior to v1.02 you could go to the Cow Level as many times as you wanted to, so if you really love it in single player, you could uninstall, reinstall Diablo II, and then play do the Cow Level with your open or single player characters as many times as you want to, as long as you don’t upgrade past v1.01. In the current version, you may repeat the Cow Level as often as you like, providing you do not receive quest credit for killing the Cow King.

The Secret Cow Level in Diablo II. Short tutorial how to get inside secret Diablo 2 location called Momo Farm or Secret Cow Level.

Project Diablo 2 has been on my horizon for a long time because I missed the way classic and pre 1.07 use to play. I was hoping for a challenging game that I wasnt cruising through end game within the first day what has been my experience with current lod and mods like PoD.

As for the Cow Level itself, it’s about what you would expect. Cows and more cows, called Hell Bovines, appear in huge, almost never-ending herds. By far the most tightly-packed monsters you see anywhere in the game can be found in the Cow Level. Every cow looks the same, there is no variation in coloration or weaponry at all. They all have massive polearms, and do quite heavy damage when they strike you with their very fast attacks.

The level is all on the surface, there aren’t any sub levels or dungeon or cave areas, but there is a main wooden stockade sort of area, with walls just like those in the Rogue Encampment. It is square in shape, with openings on all sides, and a number of dead Rogues lying around, and others tied to stakes, as you often see them in Act I. It’s not a real good place to fight in, since the approaching cows can easily fill every exit and you do not want to be cornered by them. Being cornered or too surrounded will get you scenes like this, and as you can imagine, body-retrieval can be a challenge.

Somewhere inside or just outside of the “fort” as it’s called, you’ll find the Cow King. He is always Lightning Enchanted, and should be avoided if you wish to retain the ability to open the portal to the level.

Multiple visits

You can open the Red Portal to the cow level as many times as you like, providing you don’t get credit for killing the king. Credit is given if you kill him yourself, or he dies at the hand of another player who has never killed him before, while you are in the Cow Level. Being partied or not has no effect on the credit for the quest, it only matters who actually gets the last hit on King.

If they have previously gotten credit for completing the cow quest (which means they can not open the red portal) then nothing will change. If the character who gets the last hit on the Cow King can open the red portal, then they will receive credit for completing the quest and no longer be able to open the red portal. Worse yet, everyone else in the Cow Level, whether they are partied or not, will also receive credit for completing the quest (if they didn’t have it already) and will no longer be able to open the Red Portal.

Bosses

The boss monster for the level is The Cow King, and he’s there every game, always spawning somewhere inside or very near the wooden fort. He has minions as well, just like any random boss in the game.

You can see full stats for the Cow King here. He doesn’t differ in appearance from the other cows in any way; no crown or different coloration or longer horns, though on hell he often is Aura Enchanted, so you’ll spot him by that. There are often random Cow Bosses and champions scattered throughout the area, and with them all identical in appearance it’s hard to tell if a monster is the king or not until you kill some to clear out the mob. The King is always Lightning Enchanted, so that’s one way to tell him immediately.

Prior to v1.08 the Cow King was a guaranteed special drop, like the Act Bosses, though only two items. Uniques and Sets were almost guaranteed from him with some Magic Find. In v1.09 he was toned down a bit, but he still has the ability to drop a random array of up to five magical, rare, set, and/or unique class items as well as a half-dozen stamina potions (milk anyone?). On Hell his Treasure Class is much lower than that of the normal cows, so while he will never drop top level items, he can drop quite a few low level Elite items such as Bramble Mitts, Dusk Shrouds, Shakos, etc.

Strategy

The Cow Level requires some unusual strategy. First of all, the only way in is through the red portal, which does not always spawn in a safe location. It’s a good idea to get away from it as quickly as possible, since if it gets swarmed and you leave the level through it, or die, you will not be able to return safely.

The Hell Bovines are very slow of foot, but they hit hard and have fairly rapid attacks, so caution must be used when tanking them. Their greatest strength comes from their numbers, simply because 10 cows swinging at your character, at once, is a bad situation for almost anyone.

The best characters for the cow level have ranged attacks that can strike multiple targets at the same time. Javazons might as well have been designed specifically to excel in the Cow Level, thanks to Lightning Fury, which is more effective the more targets there are in range. Other highly useful skills against the Cows include Nova, Corpse Explosion, Multishot, and Death Sentry. Anything that hits many targets per use will come into its own against the cows.

The basic strategy for the level varies a lot. If your character has a powerful area attack, you want to run around with a purpose, getting as many cows following you as possible. This is known as “herding”. Run around the mobs, “knitting” them into bigger packs, so you can attack huge mobs at once. Characters with less powerful skills will probably want to take on the cows a few at a time, and should advance slowly and carefully.

The difficulty in the Cow Level comes from the sheer numbers. The level is set outdoors, and looks like anywhere else outdoors in Act One. A few trees and some rocks and chests scattered about, but no houses or anything else that would give you a bottleneck where you could take on the cows just a few at a time.

Run

The hardest part is when you first arrive: The Red Portal appears in some random location, usually against one of the outer stone walls. Sometimes you are in a safe spot, but other times there will be cows galore right away. As many as 30 or 40 coming at you immediately, from all directions. You need to try and kill them without moving too far in any direction, since if you do you’ll get into sight of more cows, and another 20 or 30 will move in. The cows can see farther than the edges of your visible screen, so get used to them moving deliberately towards you, “moo-moo’ing” all the time.

An alternative is to run for it. You can dodge through and around the clumps of cows pretty easily, since they all move at zombie-speed. Usually some corners of the level will be devoid of cows, and you can reach a somewhat clear spot and drop a town portal, or fight there and run again when they threaten to swarm you.

It’s always a good idea to not die near the Red Portal, and ideally to have a blue and the red available, so you can always get back there without cows hitting you the instant you appear. Retreating through the Red Portal, or a Town Portal, will probably be required a number of times, either to get a mana refill or more red potions, or arrows/javelins if you are using a projectile attack.

Diablo 2 Cow Level Nightmare

The best equipment for the cow level is Magic Find gear, or else defensive stuff. Especially useful is a high defense, and equipment with -% damage. Shaftstop, Rockstopper, Stormshield, etc. If you can cut the physical damage you take, you’ll be much more likely to survive attacks. A high blocking percentage is very useful as well, as are Dodge and Evade for Amazons.

The fun of the level for items is that there are such huge numbers of cows that doing the Cow Level gets you more kills in a small area than you will ever get anywhere else in the game.

Expansion changes

Very few things changed for the Expansion. A character must kill Baal to be eligible to enter, rather than Diablo, but that’s about it. The value and difficulty of the cows has fluctuated from patch to patch. In v1.09 the Cow Level was among the most profitable areas in the game and was the most popular since it was so easy to rack up huge experience quickly. It became less valuable in v1.10 when the experience given by the cows was cut and their item dropping lowered.

Greetings! So you heard of a secret level in Diablo 3 (or maybe you haven't yet), you don't know how to get there, and you are in need of a guide to help get you there. Well you came to the right place!

First off to get to the Secret level in Diablo 3, which looks like this:

We first need to obtain a certain Staff, called the Staff of Herding. This staff is not easy to obtain, here is a quick FAQ about it:

What is the Staff of Herding?
It allows you to access the secret level in Diablo III, by following the road out of Tristram in Act I until you find the ghost cow.

How do I get the Staff of Herding?
You need to collect a total of 5 items through various drops, as well as purchase an item costing 100,000g. I will explain more in-depth how to obtain these items below.
How long does it take to build the staff?
Personally, it took me about 45 minutes to completely build the staff, including research time. However, there are many reports of farming for 2-3 hours for a single piece of the staff, so the total time seems to vary greatly with luck.
How much does it cost to build the staff?
To obtain the most basic form of the staff (normal version) it costs 150,000g. It then costs an additional 200,000g to build the nightmare version of the staff, 500,000g for the hell version of the staff. The Inferno version costs 1,000,000g. The staff itself is weak and is only used to enter the secret level. Here is the basic stats for the staff:

How do you obtain the pattern for nightmare/hell/inferno versions?
They seem to spawn randomly on the quartermaster in the main town of Act III:

Is the staff destroyed on use?
No, you can use the staff as many times as you wish.
Does the nightmare/hell/inferno version of the staff work on lesser difficulties?
Yes, the staff can be used on any difficulty up to and including the difficulty stated in the prefix of the staff. (Note: normal version of the staff does not have a prefix, it is just the Staff of Herding)
Does the staff gain any stats?
No, it is only used to gain access to the secret level.
How difficult is the secret level?
The secret level is just as difficult as Act IV of the current difficulty. It scales as more players join just like any other level.
Do I have to refarm the materials to build the nightmare/hell/inferno version of the staff?
No, after the first form of the staff is made you need only the previous version of the staff and a sum of gold to upgrade it.

Building the Staff

Here is the guide on how to get each piece required for the staff:
It is crafted using 5 rare items and a rare recipe, you need 150,000 gold total for the normal version of this staff.
Leroic's Shinbone
Act: 1
- Found Inside of the fireplace in Leroic's Manor (Click on the burnt logs)

The Black Mushroom
Act: 1
- Found in the cathedral, most commonly floor 1 (Click mushroom pile)

Liquid Rainbow
Act: 2
- Inside of a mysterious cave in act 2 (Dahlgur Oasis)
Wirt's Bell
Act: 2
- Bought for 100,000 gold from Squirts in the Act 2 Bazaar
Gibbering Gemstone
Act: 3
- Drops from Chiltara in the Caves of Frost(Found after Bridge of Korsikk)
Plans: Staff of Herding
Act: 4
The recipe to craft the staff is a drop from Izual (Act 4 Boss)
Once all 6 items are obtained, open the window of your blacksmith and right click the pattern to learn it, you can now craft it under the weapon section.

Now that it is crafted, you must visit The Ghost of the Cow King on old tristram road in Act 1, he will have a brief dialog with you and then open the path to Whimsyshire, the magical land of rainbows and ponies (secret level). See video:

SPOILER NOTE: The following video shows actual game footage of the secret cow level (at 2:10 in).
When you move onto nightmare or later you can upgrade the staff to get better loot and tougher challenges, this involves buying the recipe in act 4 final quest and paying 200k to upgrade to nightmare, 500k for hell and 1 mill for inferno.
The Loot!

Diablo 2 Experience Chart

There are lots and lots of chests and champions to grind in the Whimsyshire (secret level).

Thus, Inferno Whimsyshire drops should equal Act I of what we will call Super Inferno.

Not to mention I have found very few Legendary items (4 to be exact) and 3 of them were found in Whimsyshire. They weren't the best, but they each netted be a decent amount on the AH.

Also, those cute little clouds are everywhere, and with decent magic find yield a lot of opportunities to find something awesome.

I will update this section as more and more loot is found in the secret level!

Diablo 2 Cow Level Experience

Good luck on the farming and enjoy slaying the over friendly beasts!!!

Diablo 2 Cow Level Experience

Also, for LOTS of cool guides I would check out Diablo 3 Gold Secrets By Peng Joon, there's a small fee for it, but well worth it in my opinion.