The Maggot Lair (Act 2) Farming Guide - Diablo 2
How to Reach: Far Oasis (WP) > Maggot Lair
Zone Level: (Nightmare: 45, 45, 46) -- (Hell: 84, 84, 85)
Golden Chest: Yes & Occasional Super Chests (Level 3)
Boss/Champ Packs: 3 - 7
Hell Immunities: Lightning (Scarabs), Poison (Maggots), Physical (Locusts)
The Maggot Lair is probably the least farmed level 85 zone in the entire game due to how cramped the hallways are. Only certain classes and builds will be able to farm here without dying and only people with Teleport will be able to navigate this zone without defeating every single enemy that they encounter. Without Teleport there will be too many monsters blocking the halls for you to pass without reducing them to a corpse and this will slow down your clear time so much that it isn't even worth it.
Maggot Lair made this list largely due to the fact that the 3rd level of this dungeon is one of the few level 85 zones in the game. For anyone who doesn't already know, this being 'a level 85 zone' means that any item in the game can drop here off of the Champ/Boss packs. More info about this in my Magic Find Guide.
If you're a Sorceress with Teleport, or if you have an Enigma you can equip for long enough to navigate this dungeon, I would recommend Teleporting all the way down to level 3 and only clearing that floor since that floor is the only one that is Level 85. The rest of the dungeon does have a high Area Level and would be worth farming if it weren't for the tight tunnels.
Note: Bonemancers are a great class for farming this zone thanks to the Bone Spear ability. It forces all of the enemies to line up perfectly for you and nothing in this zone (except Champ/Boss packs) can be immune to Magic!
As far as enemies go inside The Maggot Lair there's only one you actually need to worry about, Scarabs (pictured below). The Locusts you encounter are pretty easy to deal with and their Stamina drain isn't annoying since this whole place is cramped anyway. For the Maggots, the only unique thing they do is burrow and lay eggs. Make sure if a Unique/Champ/Boss burrows on you that you wait until he resurfaces so you can finish him off.
Scarabs are the deadliest enemy throughout all of Act 2 due to their Static Field/Lightning ability. If you find yourself getting very beat up by this enemy it's recommended that you get some Lightning Resist for your character ASAP.
You'll find a Golden Chest in the room with Coldworm (pictured above) but this Golden Chest isn't a 'real' one since it contains/contained the Staff of Kings which is part of Act 2 Quest 2: The Horadric Staff. Even though this Golden Chest isn't a 'real' one, you'll still find some 'Super Chests' on this floor in the other rooms.
If you take a look at my screenshot below of the Maggot Lair Level 3 Map you'll see there are multiple 'dead end rooms' aside from the one with the Golden Chest (marked on the map). Sometimes in these rooms you'll find two regular Chests and much of the time at least one of these chests is what's known as a 'Super Chest'. A Super Chest is basically a regular chest that drops as much loot as a Golden Chest.
After doing a total of 10 farming runs of Maggot Lair Level 3 8 of those 10 runs had a Super Chest in one of the dead end rooms. So while the odds aren't 100% of getting the chest in my experience they are at least 80% which isn't too shabby.
The last thing I think worth mentioning about The Maggot Lair is navigating it. If you don't use a map hack like I do and you rely on exploring zones yourself then you should check out my Diablo 2 Maps of Dungeons Guide. That goes into detail about how some of these zones are created and how to easily navigate them along with giving examples of different dungeons.