How to Farm Mats for Staff of Herding in Diablo III

Before embarking on your quest for epic pony loots you will need to know a few key things.

1. Farming must be done in campaign mode.
2. If you activate a checkpoint that is past the point where the mat should be you need to reset the quest.
3. If you do not hit that checkpoint you can resume game.
4. If no quest is listed when you load you must activate the quest in town.
5. You only need to make one staff for infinite runs (unless the staff is lost on a dead hardcore character).

These few things will prevent a lot of futile runs which is especially important for the Gibbering Gemstone and Liquid Rainbow which have already low drop rates.

To farm Leoric's Shinbone you will start in Act One, Trailing the Coven: Khazra Barricade quest.

Teleport to the Southern Highlands and book it north. You will enter the Northern Highlands. Continue north until you go up the stairs. You can now follow the path straight to Leoric's Manor. Once in the manor you will go to the room on the first floor to the right. If the shinbone is there it will be in the fireplace.

When you resume game you can port directly to the Northern Highlands making subsequent runs faster.

Odds of Finding:

• 3 of 12 runs

Start your game on the Act One Legacy of Cain quest. Make sure you grab the quest from Leah then head to the Old Ruins. Do the quest in Adria's Hut and proceed to Cathedral Level 1. It is here where you can find the Black Mushroom.

The mushroom will be in a corner room with two small hallways going into the room. If you find the room you'll get the 'shroom.

Take care to not proceed toward the flashing door. This will activate a checkpoint. If you do this and there is no black mushroom you will need to reset the quest . Otherwise you can select 'Resume Game' and skip Adria's Hut.

Odds of Finding:

• 3 of 8 runs

This is a difficult mat to farm. You will start on Act Two, Blood and Sand quest. You are looking for the Mysterious Cave that only spawns about 20% of the time. The cave is activated by speaking to Zavan the Mysterious Merchant who is located in the Dalghur Oasis.

If Zavan is present he will be in one of two outlets that are shaped the exact same. To find the first one head dead east until you find the edge. Now follow the map south and you will find it. To find the second location continue following the south of the map west.

Although most people claim that the liquid rainbow is in the second level of the Mysterious Cave, I've only ever found it on the first so clear the cave well. The mat is located in a Mysterious Chest that looks like a Resplendent Chest.

Odds of Finding:

• 2 of 9 runs of cave
• 2 of 40 runs overall

The Gibbering Gemstone is the hardest mat to farm for the Staff of Herding so patience is required. You may feel like it takes hundreds of tries. While we didn't find it to be that many in reality, if you do not keep track, it can certainly feel that way. To reiterate, you only need to find one for an infinite number of entries into Whimsyshire so the persistence pays off.

Start in Act Three, Siegebreaker quest. Teleport to the open waypoint on the far right of the map. Once you reset you will only need to walk through the open teleportal to get there. You are looking for the Caverns of Frost. If you find the Icefall Caves reset and try again. This will happen about 50% of the time.

If you activate the checkpoint at the top of the map make sure you reset the quest. However, you should never go this far north as the caverns will never be there.

The Caverns of Frost will appear in one of five locations, either one of two spots directly north of where you enter, one of two spots to the right of your spawning point or in one spot to the left.

Once in the caverns you will want to head for level two. You can bypass all the mobs in level one for speed. Once in level two you are looking for Chiltara, a purple named mob. He holds the Gibbering Gemstone. He will also frequently drop Frozen Blood which is good to make the Sage's set if you have the recipe.

Odds of Finding:

• 2 runs of 59 total
• 2 runs of 30 Cavern of Frost runs

This is by far the easiest mat to get. Simply join Act Two and talk to the little girl merchant right by the waypoint in town. She sells the bell under the miscellaneous tab for 100,000 gold.

Once you have the plan and all mats visit any blacksmith in any town to learn the plan and make the staff.

The Staff of Herding Recipe will only fall once per core account and once per hardcore account. You will need to farm Izual to get the plan. To get to him begin with the Beneath the Spire quest in Act Four. Keep pushing forward until you find Izual and slay him. Because killing Izual is a checkppoint you will need to reset the quest each time you log out.

Odds of Finding:

• 1 of 5 runs