Drifter Cavern Farming Guide

The Drifter Cavern is a very cold and dark place with many potential monster types, much like the Icy Cellar. Including dangerous Moon Lords as well as the much sought after, Ghosts! You can even spawn in additional Elite Packs by opening Evil Urns! It is a relatively small square shaped area. It has a Gold Chest and as of Patch 2.4, it is now level 85 which means any item can now drop to finish up your Holy Grail!

Having a well-rounded build with mobility, damage, and Magic Find is vital to the potential danger you face in the Drifter Cavern. Compared to other max level areas such as Pit and Ancient Tunnels, the danger you face in and on your way to Drifter Cavern is much more prominent. Items such as Enigma and Infinity become very important for builds to function well in here.

Why farm the Drifter Cavern?

The Drifter Cavern is an Area Level (alvl) 85 zone. Elite Packs in this area can drop every Set and Unique item in the game, making them incredibly valuable to farm. Hunting for Unique and Champion packs can net you tons of items that are Magic quality or higher. This is great for Holy Grailing, collecting every item in the game! In addition, there are Evil Urns that spawn in much like chests which in addition to valuable loot spawn a random Elite pack. Be aware of the danger they can pose!

Killing high monster density frequently rewards you with High Runes (up to Zod Rune), Charms and valuable Runeword Bases, especially on high player counts (/players 7).

How do I find the Drifter Cavern?

The Glacial Trail's icy caves can be confusing to navigate on your journey to find the Drifter Cavern. Looking at the Map Reading Guide can help alleviate this confusion.

The Glacial Trail Waypoint puts you in a map tile that only has one direction to leave it. Take the perspective of your Character when it is running in that direction, and the Drifter Cavern is always Straight.

To find Drifter Cavern quickly, it helps to know what the exit tile looks like. There are 4 Waypoint tiles and 4 corresponding "Exit Tiles":

Waypoint "Bottom Left"

Exit tile

Waypoint "Top Left"

Exit tile

Waypoint "Bottom Right"

Exit tile

Waypoint "Top Right"

Exit tile

Tips & Tricks

Bonesaw Breaker

Bonesaw Breaker is a Super Unique that guards a sparkly chest inside the Glacial Trail. The Area he's in is always Right of the Waypoint. Sometimes you find him on the way to Drifter Cavern. He is Level 86 TC 84 which means he can drop most items in the game! The Super Chest in there can also drop tons of different items, including a Zod Rune

Golden Chest

There is always a Golden Chest that spawns in one of the corners of the map. This chest can drop a large majority of the items in the game, including a Zod Rune.

Evil Urns

Evil Urns are clickable chests that drop items and spawn an Elite Group when opened. Open them at your own risk, they can be very dangerous, and you could easily get clapped!

Immune Monsters

Throughout Drifter Cavern, there are many immune monsters.

• Similar to the Worldstone Keep the vast variety in mobs cause changing immunities from run to run.
• Hybrid Damage builds do a good job of dealing with the variety of immunities.
• Monsters immune to lightning are a problem here until you get your hands on an Infinity.

Maximize Magic Find

Super high level Unique and Set Items are the main reason to farm any high level area. Optimizing the "Better Chance of Getting Magic Items" Stat increases your chance of finding them. Make sure to keep up your kill speed and survivability, or the Magic Find you stacked will be for nothing!

Build Recommendations

Farming the Drifter Cavern efficiently usually requires some very high-end gear, like Enigma, and /or Infinity. We do NOT recommend farming this area without them! Check out easier farming areas such as Andariel, Mephisto, or the Pit!

• Amazon - Lightning Fury
  • Do not farm this area without Infinity on this build. Instead, check out our Secret Cow Level Farming Guide, where she destroys cows!
  • Without Enigma, the Amazon is among the worst Characters when it comes to mobility. However, with her insane DPS coming from Charged Strike and Lightning Fury she destroys this area with ease.
• Assassin - Lightning Sentry / Fire Blast
  • The Trapsin can kill everything in the Drifter Cavern, however Infinity is highly recommended with the amount of Lightning Immune and high Life of monsters.
  • Burst of Speed grants great mobility at all times, making Enigma not as important.
• Barbarian - Berserk
  • When it comes to Elite hunting, no build on the Barbarian is as efficient as the Zerker. When properly equipped, this guy just jumps onto a boss, uses howl, and basically one-shots the boss.
  • Find Item adds a chance for additional drops from the boss. This increases farming efficiency of any Barbarian build by around 30%.
• Druid - Hurricane Tornado
  • The can all, do all build of the Druid is well suited for farming the Drifter Cavern by absorbing a lot of damage with arctic armor. With a high Life pool through Oak Sage and summons to tank melee attack damage, he has little to fear.
  • With Physical and Cold Damage, this build is capable of killing every monster in the area.
• Necromancer - Bone Spear / Summon
  • The Necromancer can negate a lot of the Physical Damage with his bone armor, making him a safe choice for the Drifter Cavern.
  • While the Bone Spear Necromancer snipes away at Elite Groups from a safe distance, the Summoner teleports right on top of any Boss.
  • Corpse Explosion grants massive Area of Effect damage for additional clear speed.
• Paladin - Blessed Hammer - is recommended AGAIN.......
  • The Hammerdin is one of the best builds for farming the Drifter Cavern. Even before Enigma this character can shred this area like nobody else. His high mobility from Charge, Vigor, and Staff of Teleportation allow him to get around just fine.
  • Blessed Hammer faces no immunities in the Drifter Cavern due to its Magic Damage.

• Sorceress - Lightning / Meteorb
  • Lightning Sorceress can destroy and take advantage of all the farming strategies in this area after achieving Infinity.
  • Frozen Orb and Meteor are a strong combination against the various immunities in the Drifter Cavern.

Video Guide

Summary

• The Drifter Cavern is a lot more challenging compared to other areas. Be sure that your Character is up for the task at hand!
• Be ready to fight many Lightning Immune monsters. Bring an Infinity to break them.
• Focus your efforts on Elite Groups, they are the reason why you are here.
• Maximize your Magic Find without compromising your damage and / or survivability.
• Remember to screenshot and share with your friends awesome items found in this area!

Credits

Updated and Maintained by MacroBioBoi
Originally Written by BTNeandertha1
Reviewed by Teo1904