The Catacombs Act 1 Farming Location - Diablo 2
How to Reach: Inner Cloister (WP) > Cathedral > The Catacombs
Zone Level: Nightmare: 42/43 - Hell: 71/73 (See below)
Golden Chest: No
Boss/Champ Packs: 3 - 6 (per floor)
Hell Immunities: Fire (Dark One & Dark Shaman; Arach, Ghoul, Rat Man), Cold (The Banished, Gargoyle Trap), Lightning (Tainted & Afflicted)
The Catacombs is the final dungeon of Act 1 and the same dungeon that you'll find Andariel at the bottom of. If you're looking for information on the Andariel fight or information about farming her head over to my Andariel Farming Location/Guide instead, that has what you need. This page here is dedicated solely to The Catacombs dungeon prior to the floor with Andariel.
Catacombs is a decent spot to farm for classes and builds that deal Poison, Physical or Magic damage and any build that benefits from fighting in close quarters. Inside this dungeon you'll only find one Lightning immune enemy (Afflicted) and they only appear on Levels 3 and 4, typically in very small numbers when they do appear. For this reason, this dungeon is a good spot to farm for Lightning users as well.
You can enter The Catacombs one of two ways, first by taking the Inner Cloister Waypoint and traveling through The Cathedral and into The Catacombs... Or by entering The Catacombs via the Waypoint on Level 2. Taking the Inner Cloister Waypoint is the less well known method but it'll net you an additional 3 - 6 Champ/Boss packs. Usually in the Inner Cloister you'll find one Champ/Boss pack (two if lucky) and inside The Cathedral you'll usually find at least 3, sometimes up to 5 in total.
The Catacombs Level 2 completed map.
Teleport makes farming this whole dungeon significantly easier since you will be able to easily navigate between the rooms without the need to find a doorway. A tip for people is you can actually use the doors to your advantage too! Only one or two enemies at a time can fit through the doorway and they often get stuck on each other in the doorway when trying to all fit through. This makes rounding them up and AoEing them down much easier.
Above I have included a fully completed map of The Catacombs Level 2 which demonstrates how large each floor typically is when on Hell difficulty. Keep in mind that this dungeon and many others typically increase in size when you go up in difficulty! If you'd like to learn more about the layout of this dungeon and many others in Diablo 2 I strongly recommend checking out my Diablo 2 Maps of Dungeons page for more information. For a more detailed look at this entire dungeon's Area Level, I have included a floor by floor list below.
Nightmare Difficulty Area Levels
Catacombs (Lvl 1): 42
Catacombs (Lvl 2): 42
Catacombs (Lvl 3): 43
Catacombs (Lvl 4): 43
Hell Difficulty Area Levels
Catacombs (Lvl 1): 71
Catacombs (Lvl 2): 73
Catacombs (Lvl 3): 73
Catacombs (Lvl 4): 73
The Catacombs has a low Area Level when compared to many other dungeons throughout Hell difficulty and for that reason I only recommend you farm here if you're struggling to farm in the higher level areas throughout the game. 73 is the highest area level in the Catacombs which means that the top four or five Treasure Classes will be unobtainable in this area. For more information about Treasure Class and how this all works check out my Diablo 2 Magic Finding Guide.