The Secret Cow Level

What is The Secret Cow Level?
The secret cow level is an "easter egg" inside of the Diablo 2 series. It was created and implemented by Blizzard after community pranks on fellow players were suggesting that there was a secret cow level on Diablo 1. With overwhelming support for such a feature to be added, Blizzard included "The Secret Cow Level" in it's Diablo 2 series.

What Is Inside The Secret Cow Level?
Well first of all, there are cows! These cows are wielded with weapons, however. These Hell Bovine are the cows which were tired of being prodded around in Tristram. In The Secret Cow Level, you will find a moderately sized area featuring many Act 1 map elements, and hundreds upon hundreds of Hell Bovine, unique Bovine, and The Cow King.

How Do I Get To The Secret Cow Level?
First of all, you must have completed the game in the respective dificult you wish to open the portal in. For example, to open a portal to the Nightmare Moo-Moo Farm, you will have had to kill Diablo (for classic players), or Baal (for expansion players) in order to open the portal. If you meet that criteria, you will then need to collect:

1. Wirts Leg : Enter the Stony Field and find the Cairn Stones. Re-enter the portal to Tristram, and travel to the top left portion of the map. You will find a body on the ground called "Wirt's Body". Click on Wirt's Body to recieve Wirt's Leg and a bit of gold.
• You must retrieve Wirt's Leg from the same act you plan on opening the portal in. If Wirt's Leg is red, that means you have a leg from a different difficulty, and it will not work.
2. Tomb of Town Portal : Easily bought from a vendor in town.
3. Horadric Cube : This item you will have received during your Act 2 Quests to put together the Staff of Kings. This time you will use it to create The Secret Cow Level portal.

When you have these items, make your way to the Rogue Encampment and put Wirt's Leg and the Tomb of Town Portal into your Horadric Cube. When only these two items are in your cube, click Transmute, and a red portal will open. If you are in the Blood Moor when you create the portal, it will be called "No Level Name", however, it will still transport you to the Moo-Moo Farm.

How Hard Is The Secret Cow Level?
Hell Bovine : These are the normal cows located all across the Moo-Moo Farm. Keep in mind they travel in packs with size that varies based on the difficult of your game and party size. Some "packs" may be very close and merge upon coming close.

Difficulty : Health Points | Cold Resistance | Fire Resistance | Lightning Resistance | Poison Resistance| Magic Resistance | Physical Resistance
Normal: 159-342 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
Nightmare: 3,033-3,723 | 25 | 25 | 25 |15 | 15 | 33
Hell: 9,442-15,449 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 33 | 33 | 50

The Cow King : This is the kind of the cows who will spawn with unique modifiers. The cow king is always lightning immune, magic resistant, and lightning enchanted. When slain, the cow king will drop stamina potions, which is made to represent milk. *Important note about killing the cow king located below*

Difficulty : Health Points | Cold Resistance | Fire Resistance | Lightning Resistance | Poison Resistance| Magic Resistance | Physical Resistance
Normal: 636-1,368 | 40 | 40 | 115 | 0 | 0 | 0
Nightmare: 9,099-11,169 | 65 | 65 | 140 |25 | 15 | 33
Hell: 25,176-30,898 | 90 | 90 | 165 | 33 | 33 | 50

Important Notes To Consider

1. Cow King's Leathers (Set) : This is the only place in the game where you can receive part of the Cow King's Leather set as a drop. All hell bovines (cows) have a chance to drop a piece of the set, with the cow king having a higher chance.
2. Cow Level Quest Completion : If you, or anyone kills the cow king, everyone inside the Moo-Moo Farm at that time, completes the quest, and can no longer create a Secret Cow Level portal in that difficulty. However, you can still enter the portal if someone else creates it. If a player who has already killed the cow king, kills the cow king in another game, the quest will not be completed and all users in the area can still create a portal.
3. The Cow King : He is most commonly found near a fortified area and is found with (6 normal | 7 nightmare | 8 hell) other hell bovine. He is always Immune to Lightning, magic resistant, and lightning enchanted. There is a 10% chance the cow king will be Fire enchanted (and immune to fire) or Cold enchanted (and immune to cold). Just as well, there is a 18% chance the cow king will have stone skin enhancement which will make him immune to physical.

Fun Trivia

1. Rumors about a Secret Cow Level in the original Diablo I were said to be the cause as to why The Secret Cow Level was implemented in Diablo 2.
2. Starcraft has a cheat "There Is No Cow Level".
3. There is a World of Warcraft item called "Cow King's Hide".
4. The "Hell Bovine" and "Secret Cow Level" were based off a concept that cows were tired of being miss treated and prodded. Wirt was the first victim of the bovine rebellion, and thus, his leg is a requirement to into the secret area.

Thanks to Quorra for the previous version of this guide.