Mephisto - The Lord of Hatred is arguably the best boss to farm early on. You can farm large quantities of Unique and Set Items from him with little to no risk to your Character. The value of farming Mephisto is not limited to Hell difficulty as even in Nightmare he can drop powerful Items that make further progression a lot easier.
Mephisto is located in Durance of Hate Level 3 in Act 3. You gain access to the Durance of Hate when smashing the Compelling Orb in Travincal. The Waypoint in Durance of Hate Level 2 is your access point when farming him. The difficult part comes from finding him and the sometimes dangerous monsters on your path through The Durance of Hate.
Why farm Mephisto?
Mephisto is a great source for Unique and Set Items. He is incredibly easy to defeat (see below). This is especially useful to transition from early-game to mid/late-game. Finally, he is the only monster to drop the Charged Essence of Hatred, 1 of 4 Essences required to create the Token of Absolution which allows you to respec your Character.
Here are some examples of what you can find in Nightmare and Hell. Check out our drop calculator for all possible drops.
| Nightmare | Hell | |||
| Character Specific | Titan's Revenge Bartuc's Cut-Throat Arreat's Face Homunculus The Oculus | Jalal's Mane Herald of Zakarum Eschuta's Temper | ||
| Caster Builds | Skin of the Vipermagi Magefist Trang-Oul's Claws | Arachnid Mesh Mara's Kaleidoscope Harlequin Crest | ||
| Attack Builds | String of Ears Shaftstop Vampire Gaze Raven Frost Razortail | Highlord's Wrath Guillaume's Face Andariel's Visage Dracul's Grasp Verdungo's Hearty Cord | ||
| Other | Skullder's Ire Chance Guards | Stormshield The Reaper's Toll | ||
How do I find Mephisto?
Durance of Hate Level 2
The size of Durance of Hate Level 2 can be daunting at times. Let's take a look at parts of the Map Reading Guide to help you Level 3 as efficiently as possible.
When entering the Durance of Hate Level 2 through the Waypoint you are 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 Durance of Hate Level 3 always is to your Left. Check out the Video Guide for more detail.
To find Mephisto quickly, it helps to know how the exit tile looks like you are looking for. 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
Durance of Hate Level 3
Mephisto always spawns in the same spot in Durance of Hate Level 3. Apart from him, you can find 3 Council Members and some of their minions. In addition, Undead Stygian Dolls, and Blood Lords can spawn in this area.
Tips & Tricks
Moat Trick
Fighting Mephisto can be a very hard task if you are undergeared. But don't worry, with the so-called "moat-trick" you can fight him without him ever attacking you! For this trick you ideally have a source of Teleport. A Mercenary ruins this trick very hard to execute as he runs towards Mephisto and triggers his attacks - Get rid of him!
To use this trick, lure him south from where he spawns and teleport over the moat. Move behind the green line and Mephisto simply walks back and forth in the spot on the image.
Bremm Sparkfist sometimes spawns in the location marked by the red circle. Some Characters, like the Meteor and Blizzard Sorceress can abuse this and easily kill them. If you can't, try to lure him towards the bottom right to avoid getting spammed with Hydras.
Note: When you and your Mercenary become more powerful, using the moat trick becomes obsolete. Try out periodically whether you can fight Mephisto face to face.
Council Members
Make sure to not drag any Council Members near Mephisto. They have the ability to heal him.
Super-Chest
A Super Chest is located behind Mephisto's spawning location. Make sure to open that chest every time you kill him. Sometimes an Elite Group spawns there, so be careful when you do.
Armor Stand
There is a static location for an Armor Stand west of the moat-trick location. Make sure to open it in every run after killing Mephisto. You might get some valuable Runeword bases.
Red Portal
There is a red Portal in the center of Durance of Hate Level 3 to travel to Act 4 before you exit the game. This reduces your walking distance to the Waypoint in your next run!
Stack Magic Find
The above-mentioned moat-trick allows you to stack a lot of x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items on your Character. Make use of this as much as possible. Consider having a Helmet and Body Armor filled with Perfect Topaz to equip in your cube before killing Mephisto.
Build Recommendations
Most builds are capable of farming Mephisto with minimum investment. The Sorceress has a big advantage over other Characters due to her built-in Teleport. With a little more patience, every Character can farm Mephisto relatively easily. Check out our Andariel and Mephisto Tier-List to understand how the following builds match up without Enigma.
- Amazon - Lightning Fury
- Without Enigma, the Amazon is among the worst Characters when it comes to mobility. With her Charged Strike, however, she can destroy Mephisto with ease.
- She cannot make use of the moat-trick. Cannot Be Frozen, high Resistances, and a source of Teleport (E.g. Staff of Teleportation) are required to farm him efficiently.
- Assassin - Lightning Sentry
- Getting a target to stand in one location is the Trapsin's dream. Using the above-mentioned moat-trick allows her to kill Mephisto easily.
- Additionally, the Assassin has very high mobility through Burst of Speed. When equipped with a Staff of Teleportation she can farm Mephisto rather efficiently, even with budget gear.
- Barbarian - Frenzy
- Without Enigma it is hard to pick a good Barbarian build for farming Mephisto. The Frenzy Barbarian benefits from his high movement speed and can kill him quickly when equipped with enough Crushing Blow.
- Druid - Hurricane Tornado
- The Wind Druid can farm Mephisto even on a low budget. While not being able to use the moat-trick, he still has little to fear from him due to cyclonearmor which negates most of his damage.
- He can also use his Summons to tank anything else, even the dangerous enemies that you encounter on the way to Mephisto.
- Necromancer - Bone Spear
- The Bone Necro is well-equipped to farm Mephisto without any danger. Even without using the moat-trick it is remarkably easy by simply spamming Bone Prison on top of him and sniping him with Bone Spear.
- When doing this, you might encounter a problem though - Monsters from off-screen are pulled towards Bone Prison.
- Paladin - Blessed Hammer
- The Hammerdin is arguably the 2nd fastest Character in farming Mephisto before Enigma. His high mobility from Charge, Vigor, and Staff of Teleportation make him only marginally slower than the Sorceress in getting there.
- Due to the attack pattern, and range of Blessed Hammer the Paladin has no other choice but to face tank Mephisto, only dodging some of his more dangerous abilities.
- Sorceress - Blizzard / Meteor
- The Sorceress is unrivaled when it comes to farming Mephisto. High mobility through the built-in Teleport.
- Both the Blizzard and Meteor versions can destroy him with ease using the moat-trick.
Video
Summary
- Mephisto is one of the easiest bosses and best to farm in Diablo 2, especially early on!
- Mephisto drops a wide range of Unique and Set Items. Some of them are even used in the end-game.
- If you are struggling to progress in Hell, or even the later stages of Nightmare, consider farming Mephisto on Nightmare difficulty. He can still drop items that help you.
- Use the moat-trick if you can to remove any danger.
- Make sure to not pull the Council Members towards him - they can heal Mephisto!
- Consider having a Helmet and Body Armor filled with Perfect Topaz to equip in your cube.
Credits
Written by Teo1904
Video by MacroBioBoi
Reviewed by Raxxanterax