Worldstone Keep (Act 5) Farming Guide - Diablo 2
How to Reach: Worldstone Keep Level 2 (WP)
Zone Level: Nightmare: 65/66 -- Hell: 85
Golden Chest: No
Boss/Champ Packs: 6 - 8
Hell Immunities (Level 1): Cold (Flesh Spawner & Flesh Beast, Ghoul Lord, Invader, Vile Witch), Lightning (Black Lancer), Fire (Death Lord, Soul Killer & Soul Shaman), Poison (Fetid Defiler, Unholy Corpse)
Hell Immunities (Level 2): Cold (Greater Hell Spawn), Fire (Soul Killer), Lightning (Burning Soul, Fiend, Steel Scarab), Magic (Horadrim Ancient), Poison (Burning Soul, Cadaver, Serpent Magus)
Hell Immunities (Level 3): Cold (Blood Boss, Fire Boar, Oblivion Knight), Fire (Death Lord, Demon Sprite, Doom Knight), Lightning (Horror Lightning Mage, Storm Caster), Poison (Horror Lightning Mage, Rancid Defiler, Specter), Physical (Specter, Hell Temptress)
Worldstone Keep is the final dungeon in the Lord of Destruction expansion pack and the home of Baal. This dungeon along with Chaos Sanctuary are two of the most common endgame farming locations in the entire game. If you'd like to learn more about Baal himself and Baal farming runs follow the link provided to be taken to that guide instead.
Every level of the Worldstone Keep (including Throne of Destruction) has an Area Level of 85. This means that the Champ/Boss packs in these zones can drop from the highest available Treasure Class in the game (in non-Diablo 2 terms) that means they can drop all the loot in the game. If you'd like to learn more about Treasure Class and how this all works check out my Diablo 2 Magic Find Guide.
This dungeon has many different enemies that can spawn throughout and sometimes you will get great map rolls with the easiest enemies and sometimes bad map rolls with all of the hardest enemies. Every immunity in the game is accounted for in Worldstone Keep but Magic and Physical are the least common. Which enemies are difficult for you will most likely depend on the type of damage you use but there are also some enemies that will be hard no matter what.
Below you'll find a list of all the hardest enemies, their ingame model and a little bit about why they are so difficulty/how to beat them.
Serpent Magus is a guest monster in Act 5. It's a feature unique to Act 5 that imports enemies from previous Acts, you may remember this guy from Claw Viper Temple/Valley of Snakes. Guest vipers have an additional attack; along with their charge attack from Act 2 they also can shoot a Poison Dart that leaves a trail behind it similar to Plague Javelin. These enemies hit extremely hard and should be fought with caution. If you get a Champ/Boss pack of these guys I recommend you take them out from a distance even if you are primarily a melee character.
Burning Souls are arguably the most deadly enemies in Worldstone Keep and are another guest enemy from Act 3/4. Anyone with low Lightning Resist will get instantly fried by a group of these since their Chain Lightning attack stuns you. This allows them to attack you back to back along with any other enemies in the area. The only way to defend against these enemies is very high Lightning Resist and to recognize them before it's too late.
Death Lords are the hardest hitting melee enemies in Worldstone Keep and are most difficult to squishy casters, like a Sorceress. Aside from their heavy hitting melee attacks Death Lords don't have any other unique abilities. If you get a Champ/Boss pack of these enemies and they're Extra Fast it is typically best to avoid it as a caster.
Frenzied Ice Spawn or Suicide Minions aren't all that difficult but I figured I should bring them up too since they waste loot. You can get a Champ/Boss pack of these enemies and that means you're not going to be getting loot from them since when they explode nothing drops.
Hell Immunities (Level 1): Cold (Flesh Spawner & Flesh Beast, Ghoul Lord, Invader, Vile Witch), Lightning (Black Lancer), Fire (Death Lord, Soul Killer & Soul Shaman), Poison (Fetid Defiler, Unholy Corpse)
The first level of Worldstone Keep is one of the easier ones since there aren't many difficult enemies that can spawn here. If I had to choose one, Death Lords would be the most difficult of enemies on this floor. They're only hard though if you get a Champ/Boss pack where they spawn with extra fast speed.
Usually only the mobs that are immune to your spells on this floor are difficult to take out and there are no physical or magic immune.
Death Lords
Hell Immunities (Level 2): Cold (Greater Hell Spawn), Fire (Soul Killer), Lightning (Burning Soul, Fiend, Steel Scarab), Magic (Horadrim Ancient), Poison (Burning Soul, Cadaver, Serpent Magus)
Without a doubt this is the hardest of the 3 Worldstone Keep floors. Burning Souls are found on this level as well as Scarabs and Serpent magus. All three of these enemies are difficult and you can get all 3 of them on the same map if you're very unlucky. The Serpent Magus enemies sometimes also have a frost based tail attack that slows you down.
Burning Souls
Serpent Magus
Hell Immunities (Level 3): Cold (Blood Boss, Fire Boar, Oblivion Knight), Fire (Death Lord, Demon Sprite, Doom Knight), Lightning (Horror Lightning Mage, Storm Caster), Poison (Horror Lightning Mage, Rancid Defiler, Specter), Physical (Specter, Hell Temptress)
This level of Worldstone Keep has the largest variety of enemies and immunities of the 3 floors. For the most part the enemies on this floor are pretty easy with a few exceptions. Death Lords can spawn on this floor and Champ/Boss packs of them can be pretty difficult.
On this floor you'll also encounter two different physical immune enemies. One of them, Hell Temptress, deals missile damage and spawn in large groups which can really hurt any caster characters or those with poor gear. Missile damage is extremely deadly in Diablo 2.
Death Lords