The Secret Cow Level

Introduction

MOOOOOO.... Ok, now that that is out of the system. Welcome to our article on Diablo II: Resurrected's most iconic area, "The Secret Cow Level". The myth starts in Diablo 1, where players believed clicking a certain cow in Tristram for many times would open a Secret Cow Level. Blizzard officially confirmed that there was in fact no Secret Cow Level in Diablo by adding the cheat code "There is no cow level" in the later released Starcraft 1. During the production of Diablo 2, Blizzard released a screenshot featuring fighting cows on 1st April 1999. People obviously started wondering... was this an April Fool's joke, or is there a Secret Cow Level? Diablo 2 released, and as players went through Act 2, they claimed the mysterious Horadric Cube which allows for the transmutation of items. Naturally, they started experimenting and eventually found the recipe that opens a Portal to The Secret Cow Level to farm hordes of Bovines!

Mechanics

• The Portal to The Secret Cow Level is opened by putting Wirt's Leg and a Tome of Town Portal into the Horadric Cube and transmuting them in Act 1, Rogue Encampment.
• To open The Secret Cow Level, a Character has to pass 1 check:
  • The Character that hits Transmute must have killed Baal and finished Quest 6 of Act 5 in the same difficulty.
• Inside The Secret Cow Level, you exclusively find monsters called Hell Bovines.
• Fun fact: The "Moo"-sounds are actual recordings of the developers. Everyone in the office was asked to give it their best shot!

Wirt's Leg

To open The Secret Cow Level, you need to acquire Wirt's Leg. It can be found on the Wirt's Body, which lies on the far left corner of Tristram, which you enter through a red Portal in Act 1 Stony Fields. This Portal opens in every game after the Character has activated the Cairn Stones, using the Scroll of Inifuss. A yellow X marks the location of the red Portal to Tristram when you are within ~2 screens.

Hidden Quest

There is a hidden Quest for The Secret Cow Level to kill The Cow King. He is located at the bottom of a squared shaped "fort" setup which sits in a random position of The Secret Cow Level. When the Quest is completed in a game, The Cow King will drop 8 Stamina Potions. Because of this, players sometimes refer to this Quest as "milking" The Cow King.

Hell Bovines & The Cow King

Only Hell Bovines can spawn in The Secret Cow Level. Let's look at their Stats:

Hell Bovines

Basic Stats

		Normal	Nightmare	Hell
Monster Level		28	61	81
Base Experience		806	10,144	36,607
Life		159-342	3,033-3,723	9,442-15,449

Offensive Stats

		Normal	Nightmare	Hell
Damage Melee Attack 1		27-40	66-91	120-167
Attack Rating Melee Attack 1		266	1,544	4,232
Damage Melee Attack 2		32-43	61-86	111-158
Attack Rating Melee Attack 2		289	1,841	4,232

Defensive Stats

		Normal	Nightmare	Hell
Defense		147	662	1,264
Chance to Block (in %)		Doesn't block	Doesn't block	Doesn't block
Damage Resist (in %)		0	33	50
Magic Resist (in %)		0	15	33
Fire Resist (in %)		0	25	50
Cold Resist (in %)		0	25	50
Lightning Resist (in %)		0	25	50
Poison Resist (in %)		0	25	50
Drain Effectiveness (in %)		100	75	66
Chill Effectiveness (in %)		50	40	33

The Cow King

The Cow King always spawns with the Elite Affixes "Magic Resistant" and "Lightning Enchanted", making him Immune to Lightning in all difficulties and adds Lightning Damage to his attacks. He spawns around the bottom corner of a squared shaped "fort" setup.

Basic Stats

		Normal	Nightmare	Hell
Monster Level		31	67	84
Base Experience		988	14,257	73,214
Life		188-404	9,101-11,169	18,884-30,898

Offensive Stats

		Normal	Nightmare	Hell
Damage Melee Attack 1		30-44 13-20	71-99 36-55	122-169 62-94
Attack Rating Melee Attack 1		297	1,684	4,381
Damage Melee Attack 2		35-47 13-20	62-89 36-55	112-159 62-94
Attack Rating Melee Attack 2		323	2,008	4,381

Defensive Stats

		Normal	Nightmare	Hell
Defense		163	612	1,111
Chance to Block (in %)		Doesn't block	Doesn't block	Doesn't block
Damage Resist (in %)		0	33	50
Magic Resist (in %)		0	15	33
Fire Resist (in %)		40	65	90
Cold Resist (in %)		40	65	90
Lightning Resist (in %)		115	140	165
Poison Resist (in %)		0	25	33
Drain Effectiveness (in %)		0	75	66
Chill Effectiveness (in %)		0	40	33

Elite Affixes

	Normal	Nightmare	Hell
Affix 1	Magic Resistant	Magic Resistant	Magic Resistant
Affix 2	Lightning Enchanted	Lightning Enchanted	Lightning Enchanted
Affix 3	-	Random Affix	Random Affix
Affix 4	-	-	Random Affix

Cow King's Leathers

This special 3-piece Set drops exclusively in The Secret Cow Level. The Cow King has the highest drop chance for its pieces. But don't worry; all Hell Bovines can drop the Set pieces.

Tip: If you want to farm this Set, go to the Normal difficulty for the Boots and Body Armor to limit the loot table of the Hell Bovines. For the same reason, Nightmare is the best difficulty to farm the Helmet.

The Set is very powerful from early to mid-game and competes with other strong options in that time. With its +30% Increased Attack Speed, it is especially strong for attack based Characters, which can extract the full power of it until it becomes obsolete with later gear options. Granting 125% Better Chance of Finding Magic Items, it's a solid option while farming for other Uniques and Sets.

Farming Cows?

The Secret Cow Level is a great place to farm when you are looking for Runes (dropping up to Zod Rune), Gems, Jewels, Charms, and Base Items for Runewords. While Uniques and Sets can also be found, this is only a secondary reason to farm here. High player counts benefit this farming strategy significantly.

Characters with large Area of Effect (AOE) damage are the true kings and queens of The Secret Cow Level. Check out our Density Destroying Tier List for inspiration.

Summary

• Finish Baal's Quest before transmuting a Wirt's Leg and a Tome of Town Portal in Act 1's Rogue Encampment to open a Portal to The Secret Cow Level.
• Use Characters with big AOE damage to farm The Secret Cow Level for Runes, Gems, Jewels, Charms and Base Items for Runewords.
• MOOOOOOOOOOO

Credits

Written by Teo1904
Reviewed by MacroBioBoi