The Hellfire Ring is arguably one of the most powerful items in Diablo 3. It provides a 35% experience bonus in addition to a hefty amount of good stats, made even more powerful with Loot 2.0 in the recent Diablo 3 mega-update.
You’ll want the experience bonus it provides to earn Paragon levels at an increased pace. Coupled with a Leoric’s Signet and a socketed helmet with an experience bonus, the Hellfire Ring is a must-have item for any Paragon leveler.
If you want any of your characters to wear a Hellfire Ring, you’ll first need to get your hands on all three keys dropped by the various Key Wardens found in the four acts of the game to construct an Infernal Machine. The blacksmithing plans for the Infernal Machine can be found on Nekarat, the Key Warden on Act 4 (found on Level 1 of the Silver Spire).
You’ll first need to play the game on Torment difficulty. Setting it to T1 difficulty will provide you with a 25% chance of getting any of the keys to drop from the various Key Wardens. T6 difficulty will provide you with a 50% chance.
One little publicized feature about the game’s new 2.0 patch is the fact that Since 1.08, Blizzard made it so Nekarat, the Key Warden in Act 4 (the one I mentioned above that drops the Infernal Machine plans) can drop all three keys—the Key of Hatred, Key of Destruction and Key of Terror, and Key of Hate. It’s easier to farm Nekarat than it is to farm any of the other three Key Wardens and get all of the keys.
With that in mind, Cuckoo Gaming has put together a video guide (seen below) on how to get the most out of Nekarat in Act 4.
To get farming, start a game up on the quest Prime Evil and make your way up the Crystal Colonnade to the end of the Level 1 of the Silver Spire. You should have no problem taking a portal to the end of the map the next time you open up a game.
Not only is farming Nekarat an easy way to get all three keys, it’s also the fastest way to do so as it takes place on the smallest map (as compared to the other maps the Key Wardens are on) and offers the shortest route to the Key Warden. In addition to that, you’ll get a lot of Legendary items and money along the way. Here’s the stats for five hours of farming, as depicted in the video:
Wardens Killed: 152 in total / 30 per hour
Xp Gained: 1.3 billion in total / 275 million per hour
Elites Farmed: 320 in total / 64 per hour
Keys Farmed – 46 in total / 9 per hour [17 Terror, 8 Hate, 21 Destruction}
Gold Gained – 1.1 million – 233k per hour
Legendaries 14 in total – 2.8 per hour
Once you have the keys, simply construct Infernal Machines and head on over to Act 1, Quest 10 (Return to New Tristram) and kick down the door behind the priest at the northern part of the town to enter the Heretic’s Abode. Right click the Infernal Machine in your inventory to open one of three portals to fight “Uber” versions of Diablo 3 bosses, each of whom have the chance (again, 25% at T1, 50% at T6) to drop a crafting item used in the construction of the Hellfire Ring. Once you’ve acquired the crafting items, head on to Act 2 and purchase the Design: Hellfire Ring jewelcrafting plans from Squirt.
Keep in mind that the Hellfire Ring doesn’t have a level requirement on it, so you can foreseeably equip a Hellfire Ring of Strength on your Crusader character to level them up fast in the Reaper of Souls expansion. Just remember to make the ring on a Barbarian character if you do so, as Loot 2.0 will take your class into account and provide you with the stats you require for crafting a Strength-focused item.
An older, pre-2.0 guide can be found on Blizzard’s website here for further details.
