Welcome to the GenXGames.com Magic Find Strategy Guide! This guide on MF Strategy and items is free to the public. This information is meant to help you find new MF Strategies for Diablo 2, get answers to typical questions, and hopefully resolve any crazy (and wrong) ideas you might have about Magic Finding. There are some common misconceptions this guide attempts to address. Many players are wasting countless hours on ineffective magic finding, never realizing just why they are never finding the best unique items Diablo 2 has to offer. We have recommendations on what areas to go to, what monsters to kill, and even what gear to wear while you are doing MF runs! We hope this comprehensive guide will help you have more fun while you magic find, and hopefully improve your overall results as well! Hopefull this will help you find that incredible item you have been looking for, or perhaps you will gain a new idea or two about what new item you can use to balance out your character and increase your magic find.

At 100% Magic Find, you effectively have two times the normal chance, or a 100% better chance than normal to find Magical, Rare, Set, and Unique items. Effectively, the server applies better odds in your favor when it 'rolls' on what your item quality will be. The same amount of items will drop, however, the higher your magic find, the better quality on average your items will be. Here is a sample chart:

Magic Find Percent Vs. Item Quality Chance
Magic Find	Magic Item									Rare Item	Set Item	Unique Item
0% MF	0									0	0	0
100% MF	100									100	100	100
150% MF	150									146	145	141
200% MF	200									185	183	171
250% MF	250									220	215	193
300% MF	300									250	242	211
400% MF	400									300	287	236
500% MF	500									340	322	253
750% MF	750									412	382	280
1000% MF	1000									460	421	295
1200% MF	1200									494	448	305
1500% MF	1500									520	468	312
*Magic Find Increases probability for item quality, NOT drop rates

One should note that after about 300 percent magic find, there are higher & higher diminishing returns. Or in effect, past 300 MF, for each 1 percent or MF you gain, you get less and less actual probability to find better items. 750% MF is not seven times better than 100% MF, (unless you are refering to magical items). In fact, 750% MF equates a 280% better chance to find unique items. This may be a better example: at 250% MF you have 193% to find unique items vs. at 1,500% MF you have 312% to find unique items. In other words, adding over 1,000% MF beyond 250% MF adds only 119% actual MF for unique items!

How much Magic Find your character needs is really a personal decision to some extent. If you can manage to get 1000% MF and still clear bosses quickly, then you should use 1000% MF! However, in many cases, this is just not practical. For those reasons, we recommend about 300-400% Magic Find. Take a look at the Chart above, and you will see that once you hit about 300% Magic Find, it starts to get harder and harder to see real gains in chances for unique items to drop. As you progress into the higher Magic Find% areas, you will note that going from 500% to 750% or 1000% to 1200% magic find, really wont make all that big of a difference. For example, going all the way from 1000% MF to 1200% MF really only adds about a 10% better chance to find items. What you should do is try to maximize your MF potential while also considering how quickly and easily you can clear the various bosses such as Mephisto/ Pindle (or whatever you are running).

Overall, if your goal is to have fun, you should MF with the character you have the most fun with. However, if you are making a character, purely to find items, you should consider first what you are trying to find. Smite Paladins are the best for killing Tristam Uber bosses, which always drop Hellfire Torch Large Charms, Light Javazons are good for killing the D2 clone which always drops an annihilus small charm--in both of these cases your 'MF' is irrelevant, so these two scenarious both take us outside the scope of this article. If you are looking to find items based on luck, or truly 'magic find' a Sorceress is by far the best choice.

Why is a Sorceress the best Magic Find Class?
1- Natural Ability to Teleport, Lowest Teleport Cost
2- Highest Mana per point of Energy (2k mana = teleport for free almost)
3- Non Weapon based attacks (cheaper & easier to make)
4- Tal Rasha Set: This MF Oriented Set allows you to have good stats + high MF
(the Griswold Set, the next best is a distant second best MF set)
5- Killing Speed... it's easy to build a 400% MF Sorc that can kill pindle in one Blizzard attack!

I think most of the reasons above are self explanatory for a player with any experience. For new players, or those that are not expert MFers I'll be specific; the Tal Rasha set has an incredible 3 piece bonus many, or most people are unaware of. The bonus is 65% Magic Find! Now add that to a few items that already have great base MF, solid resist, and its really easy to make a well rounded Sorc with 400%+ Magic Find.

Barbarians are #2
Barbarians have decent MF potential because of 'Find Item' which effectively allows you to kill a boss twice. With solid gear, high MF, and an Enigma Archon Plate, a Barbarian can do some decent MFing. Barbarians get natural resist, and dual weild... which means its easier to use more MF with a Barbarian (.e.g. dual wield 180% MF crystal swords for a 360% MF boost on your last hit). However, Barbarians dont get much mana, and their teleport skill is expensive. Sure they naturally run faster, but chances are, you are not going to outrun a Sorceress using 2k mana.

Hammerdins are #3
Magic Hammer Paladins (not to be confused with Smite or Zeal paladins) can use a few Griswold set items to boost their MF, and they are clearly the best class for solo Baal MF runs. However, before you jump into this build for pure MF purposes, you should note that you will need an uber merc with great gear to do solo Baal Runs easily--the second wave of Baal attacks include monsters that are immune to magic hammers, so beware.

Amazons ... a very distant #4...
Amazons: both Javazons and Bowazons don't have a lot of mana, so they are not great for teleporting, they don't have any natural abilities, like find item, or natural resist that give an advantage, and wearing the best Amazon set, M'avina's Battle Hymn, is almost like asking to be kicked in the head (don't even get me started on the Aldurs Advance Set). Other than Mavinas Tiara most of the M'avina's set items are near useless (although the bow is amusing since it doesnt need arrows--the M'avina bow uses magic arrows). So what does an Amazon have? Well, most bosses are not physical immune, and Amazons can put out a lot of physical damage quickly. So sure, teleport/ run to the boss slowly and kill it fast.. yay.. I'm MFing slow... With an Amazon ... Bowazon or Javazon.. you should probably go find a good PVP game instead

What about the rest of the classes?
With elite gear, any class can MF (semi-decent), however, Assassins, Druids, and Necromancers are just not great MFing classes. You should play the character class that you love to play; even if its not perfect for Magic Finding. However, we need to be honest, and we want to make it clear that a well built Sorceress will out Magic Find the last few classes here significantly. In other words, unless you are MFing for fun, don't waste time trying to Magic Find with a class that is poorly suited for the task!

Yes... and No... If your mercenary gets the very last hit, the server will add any MF your merc has (in addition to yours), and use this to calculate the item quality on your drop. Should YOU get the last hit (and not your Mercenary), then your Merc's MF (if any) is not computed in the equation. It might be hard to consistently allow your merc to get the last hit without having it die (a Merc costs 50k gold to ressurect). So, it's probably a better idea to just select a merc that can help your character the most, and equip it with gear that will allow you to MF faster. If you want to know the best mercenary to use, check out our PVP Strategy Guide Mercenary Section.

Generally, it's nice to make a mercenary with multiple Auras. Act2 mercs are often the best for this because they come their own Aura--based on the type of act 2 merc you pick, as well as the difficulty level (Normal, Nightmare, Hell). Each type of Merc, in each difficulty level gets a unique aura. For a summary of possibilities, please refer to the PVP guide Merc section (see the link in question#4). Usually its best to give a merc a Vampire Gaze (for solid life steal), an Eth Doom Cryptic Axe Polearm or an Eth Infinity Cryptic Axe Polearm, or a Breath of the Dying. Infinity is really for Trap Assasins, or Sorcs because it comes with level 12 conviction. Doom is better if you are using melee attacks; it really slows down the enemies in an area significantly. I have also found the Might Aura Act 2 Offensive Merc is very helpful with a melee character; you can get as much as a 30% damage boost from the Aura of a high level offensive Merc.

As players join and leave games, the server posts messages telling whether Diablo's Minions are growing weaker or stronger. In a full eight player game, its easy to tell that MORE items drop than in a single player game. However, the monsters and bosses are all (of course) much harder to kill. If you are playing alone MFing, you could find more killing bosses in 8 players games. However, its much harder and slower to kill bosses in these cases, and you will often in fact find the boss is already dead when you get there! This is why we recommend that you don't try to use this tactic; long term, you should find more, just making your own private games. Plus, in a private game, you don't have to worry about someone else stealing your drop.

Nope, you didn't do anything wrong. Just remember that the only thing working in your favor, is the law of large numbers.. if Meph in Hell has a 2% chance to drop a shako (I'm just making this number up), you might not find a single shako in even 500 runs. But do 1 million runs and you should find exactly 2% shakos.

I would recommend farming Diablo 2 bosses primarily in Hell. Very few items can just drop from regular monsters. Avoid spending a lot of time in normal and nightmare. Doing this will limit your potential, and there are many items you will never find; because the best Diablo 2 items drop in hell difficulty. It's a probabilty game. Over enough runs, you will find items. However, you might want to make sure you are actually farming a boss that can drop the item you are looking for. Be aware for example that Mephisto and Pindle can never (both of them) drop Tyrael's Mights.. yes Pindle can drop unique Sacred Armor, but his Treasure Class is not high enough. Treasure class defines a range of items a boss can drop, although some bosses are additionaly limited to dropping certain kinds of items. Along with the earlier example, you will note that Mephisto can't drop Sacred Armor. There several sites out there on the web that give detailed drop rates. You may want to consult one of these if you are looking for a specific item. For example, the highest% chance any boss has to drop a Shako is actually Griswold in Tristam 0.74140%, or 7/10ths of 1 percent. You should note something else; the actual quality of the Shako (whether its plain, magical, rare, or a unique harlequin crest) is really going to be based partly on your Magic Find%.

Magic Find drops are based on respective treasure class of the monster or boss you are killing. Here's a brief review of some bosses, and some sample items they can drop (as well as a % chance to drop that specific item).

Bosses and Drop Rates:
Andariel: Rings, Hell 0.85288%, Nightmare 0.82664% (Magic, Rare, Unique-- Including Sojs)
Baal: Any Unique in the game, including Tyrael's Might
Mephisto: High Drop Rates on all but the highest TC Helms, Examples: Shako, Skulders, Arachnid Sashes
Pindle: Any high level uniques and runes, except Tyrael's Might
The Countess: High Drop Rates on Most runes, up to Ist
The Pit: One of the best places in the game to random farm for mid level TC uniques.

Our Magic Find Character Build Section shows some examples of MF builds you can use. The guide suggests using about 300-400% magic find, so the Character builds are geared toward this. If you plan on using more or less magic find, you will probably need to make some decisions. Try to maintain decent levels of damage output, as well as physical resist (especially vs. lightning) along with your MF build. As already pointed out earlier in the guide, huge levels of MF are useless if you can't kill anything.

Welcome to the GenXGames.com Magic Find Guide, Character Build Section. There is a saying, "it takes a little to make a little". Magic finding can be just like that, in order to find a lot of items, to some extent you need to already have good magic find, please see the link above to our online Diablo 2 Store if you need any of the items listed in this guide. Our Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist customers. Our recommended MF Builds are shown below for each character class. This guide is free to the public, and we welcome any feedback you may have on how we can improve it! If you are still trying to decide which class to play on your Magic Find runs, please refer to our Top 10 Magic Find Questions page.

Magic Find Bow Amazon
Bow or Javelin Amazons can be decent at magic finding with the right gear. You should be going for 300-350% Magic Find on an Amazon. If you are a Bowazon, try to make sure you at least hit the 90% IAS Plateu (assuming you are using a Windforce). With the items suggested below, you get 310% Magic Find. Add optional items like Goldwrap to get to 340% Magic Find. Beef up on small charms for extra resist/ mf, or get a Gheeds for an even bigger MF boost. We don't claim this is the only gear you can use; there are many possibilities on the gear you can select; this is just one example of what you can use.

Suggested Gear
Helm -Isted Shako (75% MF)
Armor -1-99% MF Enigma (mageplate if you are keeping str stats low)
Gloves - Chance Guards can give you 40% magic find; its hard to get more on this slot.
Shield - None (you're a Bowazon!).
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Lidless wall (or +2 skills Spirit Monarch - ladder only if you can get it) for +1 skills and a CTA with +6 Battle Orders/Command to increase your life/skills. Ber Stormshield on the backside is great for blocking if you like running away.
Belt -15% Damage reduction Verdungo is the best option here. If you are sucker for high MF, grab on optional Gold Wrap for 30%.
Boots - Real Men (and women) wear 50% perfect MF War Travelers; we do offer quite a few choices on Rare godly MF/ Resist boots too (watch out, some are non perm). Check out East NL Boots & West NL Boots.
Weapon -Ok... unless you are in the Dark Ages, or hacking on open battlenet, use a Faith Grand Matron bow (Ladder Only)--its by far the best bow for an Amazon. The 12-15 Fanaticism aura from Faith adds quite a bit of damage & IAS. A Windforce with a 40/10 min jewel is your #2 choice. And if you can't get one of these uber bows, we pity you.
Amulet/ Rings -Grab 30% Nagel Rings, and keep some 20% MF Wisp Projectors around. Your resist might be low with all the MF gear you have equipped, so you might want to use a 30% perfect resist Maras amulet. Of course, don't rule out rare godly amulet with resist, skills, and MF. We have tons of these on East NL Jewelry & West NL Jewelry.
Charms -5x 3 Max/ 20 life small charms (don't use poison charms or Critical Strike does not work properly), 5x 3max/ FRW small charms, 1x Hellfire Torch and 1x Annihilus. You should leave some empty space in case 2 good items drop at once, and to avoid having your stash fill too quickly. You may want to use a few 7% Magic Find Small Charms, or a 30-40% Gheeds Grand Charm, however, with Gheeds, remember, if you are carrying one, it's hard to pick up a new one when it drops! (You can only carry 1x Gheeds Grand Charm at a time). Just about all these charms are available on the site, check out East NL Charms and West NL Charms.


Javelin MF Amazon
The suggested gear here will get your magic find up to 310% (if you are level 85) not including the option items, such as Goldwrap (which would get you to 340%). If your resist or mf is a bit low, get some 7% MF Small Charms or 5% Resist small charms. If you are going to be elite, grab some 7% MF/ 5% resist dual stat small charms.

Suggested Gear
Helm -Ist a Shako for 75% MF
Armor -1-99% Magic Find From an Enigma
Gloves -40% MF Chance Guards
Shield -Stormshield 15 ias/ 15 res (DPS), Ist, or 5/5 Lightning Facet (lower resist)
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Lidless wall (or +2 skills Spirit Monarch - ladder only if you can get it) for +2 skills and a +6 BO CTA to increase your life/skills/mana.
Belt -Thundergod's Vigor has 20 str/ 20 vita, and great Java skills bonuses, or you can add a 30% MFGoldwrap.
Boots -Godly Resist, MF, Stat Boots (rare) are the best, otherwise use 50% perfect MF War Travelers
Weapon -Use a 180%+ ethereal upgraded Titans Revenge Matriachal Javelin; faster run walk, str/ dex, leech and more.
Amulet/ Rings -Perf 30% Maras, 30% Perfect Nagelrings, or 20% MF Wisp Projectors
Charms -Use a few +1 Java grand charms with 30+ life, 1x Hellfire Torch, 1x Annihilus. 5/7 Resist/ MF charms, or MF charms may also be included. Get a gheeds, or 7% MFSC/ 5% Res Sc to beef up mf/ resist if needed. If you are concerned about FHR, use 3 max/ 5% FHR SC to get to 50% FHR.

Trap MF Assassin
This Assassin Trap build brings you to about 310% Magic Find at level 85, this is before considering what belt you are wearing, or small charms. Trap Assasins can be decent for MFing, but it will of course be slow-going if they are light and physical immune...

Suggested Gear
Helm -Shako with an Ist for 75% Magic Find. The Shako provides life/mana per level, +2 skills, and comes with 10% damage reduction.
Armor -Enigma Breast Plate for 85-99% MF (assuming you are level 85-99). +1 Teleport will make you mobile, and the massive Strength bonus will let you get away with putting zero points in Strength. This leaves a lot of points for vitality!
Gloves -40% MF Chance Guards
Shield -If you choose to use a shield us a Stormshield (Um/Eld/Cham). Many people forget that you can use an Eld rune for 7% increased chance to block. At high levels this can save you from putting as many as 30 points into Dexterity to reach a 75% block rate.
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Lidless wall (or +2 skills Spirit Monarch - ladder only if you can get it) for +1 skills and a CTA for Battle Orders/Command to increase your life/skills.
Belt -Thundergod's Vigor has great Strength, vitality, and Java skills bonuses. Optional, 30% Magic Find Goldwrap.
Boots -50% perfect MF War Travelers
Weapon -Find some magical 2 socket, +3 Traps, +3 Light Sentry claws/ or rare +2 Assassin skills, +3 Traps, 2 socket claws . Socket them with 2x 15% IAS/15% resist jewels. (Magic Claws usually get 2 sockets)
Amulet -30% Resist Mara's, or a godly +2 Assassin amulet with 20 FCR, + strength, and stats/MF/resist, and 2x 30% perfect Nagelrings, or 2x 20% MF Wisp Projectors.
Charms -2x +1 Trap grand charms with 30+ life, Life/Resist/FHR small charms , 1x Hellfire Torch, 1x Annihilus. You can add 7% MF and 5% resist small charms to your remaining space, be sure to leave a few slots open so you can pick up more than one item on a good run.


Whirlwind MF Assassin
This Assassin Whirlwind build gives you about 310% Magic Find before your charms/ belt assuming you are at least level 85. You may want to boost your resist with some 5% Res SC's.

Suggested Gear
Helm -Shako with an Ist for 75% Magic Find. The Shako provides life/mana per level, +2 skills, and comes with 10% damage reduction.
Armor -Enigma Breast Plate for 85-99% MF (assuming you are level 85-99). +1 Teleport will make you mobile, and the massive Strength bonus will let you get away with putting zero points in Strength. This leaves a lot of points for vitality!
Gloves -40% MF Chance Guards
Shield -None.
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Lidless wall (or +2 skills Spirit Monarch - ladder only if you can get it) for +1 skills and a CTA for Battle Orders/Command to increase your life/skills.
Belt -15% DR Verdungo. Or you can use Goldwrap for 30% Magic Find.
Boots -50% perfect MF War Travelers, these come with Vitality and Strength.
Weapon -Use one Chaos (Runic Talon for speed or Suwayyah for lower reqs/ higher base avg damage) and one Fury (Feral claw for speed or Suwayyah for lower reqs/ higher base damage). Equip the Fury on the left side of your screen to recieve the 20% AR bonus. +3 Venom, +1 Dragonflight, and +3 Weaponblock (on each claw) is best but impossible to find.
Amulet -30% Resist Mara's, or a godly +2 Assassin amulet with stats/resist/MF.
Rings -2x 30% Perfect Nagelrings
Charms -2-3x +1 Shadow grand charms with 30+ life, 1x Hellfire Torch, 1x Annihilus, 10x 7/5 MF/resist small charms.

Whirlwind MF Barbarian
Barbarans are the #2 best class for MFing. Why? Well, they can dual weild 180% MF crystal swords (for a huge 360% MF boost on the last hit), they have the Find Item skill (which is almost the same as killing the same mob twice), and they have great natural resist and armor, which leaves plenty of room to beef them up with MF. The only problem barbs have is they can't teleport like a sorc unless they use an enigma, and lower teleport skill means its more expensive each time to cast it (i.e. it eats a barbs mana pretty fast). Enigma is still perfect armor for an MF barb.. lots of strength = more damage (enigma has a great STR bonus), and lots of MF, + teleport, and +2 skills. This suggested gear gets you to 310% MF aside from a switch on kill hit (e.g. 2x 180 MF crystal swords, or 2x ali babas), and other optional items. If you find your damage is too low, or you are killing to slow, substitute some of these MF items for items shown in our PVP guide.

Suggested Gear
Helm -Shako with an Ist for 75% Magic Find.
Armor -Enigma Breast Plate for 85-99% MF (assuming you are level 85-99). +1 Teleport will make you mobile to help you MF Faster, and the massive Strength bonus will let you get away with putting very few points in Strength. This leaves a lot of points for vitality!
Gloves -40% MF Chance Guards
Shield -Stormshield with 40/10 min Jewel or 40/15 max jewel. 40/15 max jewels only APPEAR not to work. This is a clientside bug (i.e. displayed damage will be lower than your actual damage). The server calculates the damage correctly, you just wont know quite how much damage you are doing unless you are good at math.
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Use 2x Echoing Weapons (+3 to Warcries), or you can use 2x 180% MF Crystal Swords to beef up your MF on the last hit (add 360% MF to your last hit!)
Belt -15% DR Verdungo, 40 Vitality. Or, 30% MF Goldwrap.
Boots -50% perfect MF War Travelers, these come with Vitality and Strength.
Weapon -A 385% Death Runeword Ethereal Berserker Axe (ladder only) is an excellent choice as well because of open wounds, crushing blow, high damage. A 400-415% Breath of the Dying BOTD Collusus Blade is the next best choice.
Amulet/Rings -Find a godly amulet with MF/ Stats/ Skills, and use 2x 30% Perfect MF Nagelrings. If you want attack rating, use the Angelic Amulet, and one Angelic ring with one 30% MF Nagelring.
Charms -1x Annihilus with 20 to stats, 1x Hellfire Torch, and 10x 7% MF Charms. You may consider using a 30-40% Gheeds as well, although this will make it hard to pick up a Gheeds if one drops.


Concentrate MF Barbarian
Concentrate Barbarians are pretty horrible for Magic Finding, but just incase someone is looking for suggested gear, here it is. The gear is basically the same as above, just with a different weapon in the case of MFing. Like above, you could consider using more PVP / Damage oriented gear, then just throwing two 180% MF crystal swords on the backside of your character. This build gets you to 310% MF before considering the belt or charms that you use.

Suggested Gear
Helm -Shako with an Ist for 75% Magic Find.
Armor - -Enigma Breast Plate for 85-99% MF (assuming you are level 85-99). +1 Teleport will to help you MF Faster, and the Strength bonus helps also.
Gloves -40% MF Chance Guards
Shield -Stormshield with 40/10 min Jewel or 40/15 max Jewel.
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Use 2x Echoing Weapons (+3 to Warcries
) Belt -15% DR Verdungo, 40 Vitality or 30% MF Goldwrap, for 10% IAS and MF.
Boots -50% perfect MF War Travelers, the 10 Vita and Str help.
Weapon -415% ED Botd Ethereal War Pike, or if you need to use a shield, use a Ethereal Botd Colussus Blade (or an Ethereal Death Berserker Axe - ladder only).
Amulet/Rings -Use the Angelic Set for +75 life (on the amulet ), and +1000 AR on one angelic, then use a 30% MF Nagelring on the other side. Or you can use 2x 30% Nagel rings and an amulet with MF/ stats/skills.
Charms -1x Annihilus with 20 to stats, 1x Hellfire Torch, and 10x 7% MF/ 5% Resist Small Charms.

Elemental MF Druid
Druids with Elite gear are half decent magic finders, although Druids have no inherent advantage in MFing. The suggested items below get your druid to about 310% MF before charms & optional items.

Suggested Gear
Helm -Shako with an Ist for 75% Magic Find.
Armor -Use a Mageplate/Breastplate Enigma and avoid wasting a single point on Strength. This also adds 85-99% MF (assuming you are level 85-99).
Gloves -40% MF Chance Guards
Shield -Stormshield with a -15% requirements, 15% Res all jewel or an Eld rune for 7% increased chance to block (saves you from spending points on Dexterity).
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Lidless wall (or +2 skills Spirit Monarch - ladder only if you can get it) for +1 skills and a CTA for Battle Orders/Command to increase your life/skills.
Belt -Arachnid Mesh for 20% FCR and +1 Skills, or you can use a 30% MF Goldwrap.
Boots -Get a Perfect Pair of 50% MF War Travelers, these also add 10 Vita, 10 Str.
Weapon -Get a high resist (close to 40%) Heart of the Oak flail. 30-40% resist all, +3 Skills, and 40% FCR make this the weapon of choice. 40% Fast cast from your HOTO is critical to making your Elemental Druid effective.
Amulet -30% Resist Mara's, or a godly +2 Druid amulet with stats/resist/FCR.
Rings -2x 30% Perfect MF Nagelrings, or optionally use 1-2 20% MF Wisp Projectors for light absorb + MF too.
Charms -2-3x +1 Elemental grand charms with 35+ life, 1x Annihilus, 1x Hellfire Torch and 10x 7% MF/ 5% Resist small charms. You can use a Gheeds, just remember, you will need another hell difficulty character to pick one up for you, should it drop.

Bone MF Necromancer
A Necro with a really solid bone spear synergy (don't use spirit.. it eats mana, and does less damage since it does not penetrate) can do half decent damage. Throw on an Enigma and you can teleport too. Unfortunately, PVM, Necros tend to be a bit soft on damage, and overall I would have to say a Necro is not a great MFing choice. The base MF at level 85 with the suggested gear below is 310%, which should be plenty; however if you are looking for more MF use some of the optional items mentioned.

Suggested Gear
Helm -75% MF Isted Shako (25% ist + 50% Base on the Shako)
Armor -Use a Mageplate/Breastplate Enigma and avoid wasting a single point on Strength. This also adds 85-99% MF (assuming you are level 85-99).
Gloves -40% MF Chance Guards
Shield -Darkforce Spawn with +3 PB Skills (Poison Bone). This is the best Necro shield period, the 35% FCR, and 10% Mana can't be beat. Socket this with an Um rune or a 7% FHR , 15% resist all jewel. A Spirit Monarch is also a great choice because of FHR, FCR, and +2 skills (another ladder only shield).
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Lidless wall (or +2 skills Spirit Monarch - ladder only if you can get it) for +1 skills and a CTA for Battle Orders/Command to increase your life/skills. A good alternative is a Spirit Monarch (ladder only) for +2 Skills, FHR, and FCR.
Belt -Arachnid Mesh for 20% FCR and +1 Skills, a 30% Magic Find Goldwrap belt can help as well here.
Boots -Use perfect 50% Magic Find War Travelers
Weapon -Get a high resist (close to 40% Res ) Heart of the Oak flail. 30-40% resist all, +3 Skills, and 40% FCR make this the weapon of choice. 40% Fast cast from your HOTO is critical to making your Necromancer effective.
Amulet -30% Resist Mara's, or a godly +2 Necro amulet with stats/resist, and 10-20% FCR.

Rings -2x 30% MF Nagelrings, or mix & match with 20% MF Wisp Projectors.
Charms -2-3x Poison Bone grand charms with 35+ Life, 1 x Annihilus, 1x Hellfire Torch, 10x 7% MF/ 5% Resist small charms. A 30-40% Gheeds is optional.


Poison Nova MF Necro
You can use the same MF gear as with the Necromancer build above to get to about 310% magic find. I should mention that you are 'off your rocker' if you think you are going to rack up elite items with a Poison Nova necro build. This is pretty horrible for MFing, but if you like pain, here it comes.

Suggested Gear
Helm -an Ist Shako adds 75% Magic Find
Armor -Use a Mageplate/Breastplate Enigma; this will add 85-99% MF if you are level 85 to 99.
Gloves -40% Perfect MF Chance Guards are a good choice.
Shield -Darkforce Spawn with +3 PB Skills (Poison Bone). This is the best Necro shield period, the 35% FCR, and 10% Mana can't be beat. Socket this with an Um rune or a 7% FHR , 15% resist all jewel. A Spirit Monarch is also a great choice because of FHR, FCR, and +2 skills (another ladder only shield).
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Lidless wall (or +2 skills Spirit Monarch - ladder only if you can get it) for +1 skills and a CTA for Battle Orders/Command to increase your life/skills.
Belt -Arachnid Mesh for 20% FCR and +1 Skills, or 30% Magic Find Goldwrap.
Boots -Use perfect 50% Magic Find War Travelers
Weapon -Get a high resist (close to 40% Res ) Heart of the Oak flail. 30-40% resist all, +3 Skills, and 40% FCR make this the weapon of choice. 40% Fast cast from your HOTO is critical to making your Necromancer effective. Don't try to use Death's Web PVP, it does not have the FCR, or resist that is critical to making this build effective. If you use Death's Web instead of a HOTO, I promise you will only be half the Necro you could otherwise be PVP,
Amulet -30% Resist Mara's, or a godly +2 Necro amulet with stats/resist, and 10-20% FCR.
Rings -Use 2x 20% MF Wisp Projectors or 2x 30% MF Nagelrings.
Charms -2-3x Poison Bone grand charms with 35+ Life, 10x 7% Magic Find Small Charms and/ or 10x 5% resist small charms.

Paladin MF Magic Hammer
Paladins using Magic Hammers have a huge advantage over other classes; aside from a few rare spawns and bosses, nothing in Diablo 2 (including players too) can resist a Magic Hammer. The hammers can hit the same target more than once as well, and they do massive damage (you can do 16k+ magic hammer damage with a pure PVP/ Skills/ Damage oriented build). Hammerdins are by far the best class aslo for solo Baaling / Baal runs.


Suggested Gear
Helm -75% MF Ist Shako.
Armor -Enigma for 85-99% Magic find as long as you are level 85-99..
Gloves -40% Chance Guards
Shield -Spirit Monarch (ladder only) is now the best choice because of FHR, FCR, and +2 Skills. The #2 choice is a Herald of Zak (HOZ) with an um rune. The +4 Combat skills, 20 Vitality and 20 Strength on the HOZ are great mods.
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Lidless wall (or +2 skills Spirit Monarch - ladder only if you can get it) for +1 Skills and a CTA for Battle Orders/Command to increase your life/skills.
Belt -Arachnid Mesh for 20% FCR and +1 Skills
Boots -50% War Traveler Boots are by far the best choice.
Weapon -Get a high resist (close to 40%) Heart of the Oak flail. 30-40% resist all, +3 Skills, and 40% FCR make this the weapon of choice.
Amulet -30% Resist Mara's, or a godly +2 Paladin amulet with stats/resist.
Rings -Use two 30% Perfect MF Nagelrings
Charms -A few Combat grand charms with 35+ life, 1x Annihilus, 1x Hellfire Torch, 10x 7% MF/ 5% Resist small charms.


Paladin MF Zeal
Ok... if you love Zeal paladins (sure they are fun) go ahead & MF with it; however I have to say this is just not a great choice for MFing. Sorcs, Barbs, and Hammerdins are solid MF classes (with Sorcs as by far the best). Anyway, if you want to MF with your Zeal paly, these suggested items get you to 310%+ MF if you are level 85. If your resist is horrible, grab chains of honor armor for huge resist and life leech (and a little MF too).

Suggested Gear
Helm -Use an isted Shako for 75% MF, 10% Damage Reduction and lots of life & mana.
Armor -Use an Enigma for 85%+ Magic Find for a level 85+ character.
Gloves -40% MF Chance Guards
Shield -A high defense ethereal Exile with good ED or Resist. An HOZ is another good option.
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Lidless wall (or +2 skills Spirit Monarch - ladder only if you can get it) for +1 Skills and a CTA for Battle Orders/Command to increase your life/skills.
Belt -15% DR Verdungo with 40 vitality, or 30% Magic Find Goldwrap
Boots -50% Magic Find War Traveler Boots
Weapon -An Ethereal Death Berserker Axe is the best choice because of open wounds, crushing blow, deadly strike, and high damage.
Amulet/Rings -Highlords Wrath for damage or 30% Maras for resist and 2x 30% MF Nagelrings. A 35% Resist Metalgrid is also a good choice.
Charms -12x+ 3/20/20's, 1x Annihilus, 1x Hellfire Torch, and 10x 7% MF/ 5% Resist small charms.


Paladin MF Smite
Smite PVP Paladins are melee Gods, beating all other classes in hand to hand combat. And for farming uber tristam, they are excellent as well. However, for old fashioned MFing, they are a bit lacking. Here's some example items you can use (for example, if your only character is a smiter & you want to MF). This suggested gear gets you to about 310 percent Magic Find.

Suggested Gear
Helm -Isted Shako
Armor -Enigma for up to 99% MF at level 99.
Gloves -40% MF Chance Guards
Shield -A high defense ethereal Exile with good ED/Resist or an upgraded HOZ (Herald of Zak). Don' t attempt to smite with a non upgraded HOZ.. a gilded shield does very little smite damage. If you an HOZ, you need to Cham it, or use a ravenfrost ring. If you prefer Exile, and you don't want to use a ravenfrost ring, you need to Ber/ Cham your COA.
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Lidless wall (or +2 skills Spirit Monarch - ladder only if you can get it) for +1 Skills and a CTA for Battle Orders/Command to increase your life/skills.
Belt -15% DR Verdungo with 40 vitality, or 30% MF Goldwrap Belt
Boots -MF 50% War Traveler Boots
Weapon -The best weapon is now a Grief Phase Blade (or Crystal Sword) because it adds 330-400 damage, which goes directly to smite. The #2 choice is a Ber'd Astreons Wand (both Grief & Astreons are ladder only). You can use a Doom Berserker axe vs. classes that run away from you. A good Astreon's adds +4 combat skills. With the skills bonus + built in crushing blow, Astreons + HOZ will always beat a Doom + Exile setup (Smiter vs. Smiter).
Amulet/Rings -30% Perfect Mara's Kalaidescope, and 2x 30% MF nagelrings.
Charms -10x+ 3/20/20's, 1x Annihilus, 1x Hellfire Torch, and 10x 7% MF/ 5% Resist small charms. Only use Gheeds (30-40% MF on a good one) if you don't mind not being able to pick up a new Gheeds Grand Charm (if one drops).

Sorc MF Build (Tal 3piece Bonus)
The Sorceress is the #1 best class for magic finding by a mile. Builds, like this one we are about to show you are one reason for this. This is no big secret to MF veterans, but I'm going to cover it for new MFers. This build is cheap, easy to do, and the MF is really great. This is not a Diablo 2 Mod or exploit, but it is still a great way to beef up your resist and magic find--while staying legit. Use Tals Amulet, Belt, and Armor for a 65% MF boost (and some nice secondary set item specific bonuses as well).

Suggested Gear
Helm -75% MF Ist Shako
Armor -88% MF Tal Rasha Armor for 40% Resist Fire/ Light/ Cold
Gloves -40% Chance Guards
Shield -The Spirit Monarch (ladder only) is now by far the best choice (+2 Skills, FHR, FCR) or an Ist/ Um Lidless Wall PVM.
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Lidless wall (or +2 skills Spirit Monarch - ladder only if you can get it) for +1 Skills and a 6 BO CTA.
Belt -15% MF Perfect Tal Rasha belt
Boots -Godly rare MF Boots (check out East Or West Non Ladder for these in the GenXGames D2 store), or 50% Perfect War Travelers
Weapon -80% MF Ist Occulus
Amulet/Rings -Tal Rasha Amulet and One SOJ (for 25% more mana) and one 30% Nagelring
Charms -A Few Cold grand charms with 35+ life, 1x Annihilus, 1x Hellfire Torch, and 10x 7/5 MF/resist small charms. You can also add Gheeds Grand Charm (30-40% MF), 7% MFSC and 5% Resist charms to make sure your MF/ Resist are solid.


Typical MF Sorc Build
If your sorc is level 85, expect about 345% MF with this build.

Suggested Gear
Helm -Isted Shako for 75% MF
Armor -Enigma for 1-99% MF (based on Char Level)
Gloves -40% Chance Guards
Shield -The Spirit Monarch (ladder only) is now by far the best choice (+2 Skills, FHR, FCR). Distant #2 options are a Stormshield PVP or a Lidless Wall PVM.
Shield/Weapon on Backside -Lidless wall (or +2 skills Spirit Monarch - ladder only if you can get it) for +1 Skills and a CTA for Battle Orders/Command to increase your life/skills.
Belt -Arachnid Mesh for 20% FCR and +1 Skills, or a 30% MF Goldwrap
Boots -50% Perfect War Travelers
Weapon -Ist Occulus for 80% MF
Amulet/Rings -30% Mara's and 2x 30% Nagelrings
Charms -2-3x Cold grand charms with 35+ life, 1x Annihilus, 1x Hellfire Torch, 10x 7/5 MF/resist small charms. Optional Gheeds Grand Charm (30-40% MF). Just remember if you use Gheeds and another Gheeds drops, you will need a friend to help you pick it up!