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{{template:quests}}A The '''Secret Cow Level''', a favorite joke/and absurd rumor from [[Diablo I]], the "Secret Cow Level," packed full of [[Hell Bovine]]s, is a reality in [[Diablo II -- ]] — an Easter Egg/joke area that's actually quite fun and profitable. It was so profitable that the Cow Level was the most popular area to "run" in v1.09, thanks to the huge cow herds, good experience, and low danger to players. In v1.10 and later the experience was nerfed and the area is no longer so popular, but can still provide players with some fun and profitable play experiences.

=From While standing in the [[Rogue Encampment]] in [[Act 1]], combine a Joke to Reality=[[Wirt's Leg]] + [[Tome of Town Portal]] in the [[Horadric Cube]].

* '''[[Image:Quest-cows-early.jpg|thumb|300px|First look at Cows, April Fools, 1999.Diablo 2]]There were player-created rumors/jokes about a [[Lord of Destruction]]:''' If you have been previously present in the Secret Cow Level in Diablo I, based on when the cows in the pasture in TristramCow King was slain, that would moo, or cause your character you will be unable to say something amusing, if you clicked craft this recipe yourself in the bovines long enoughcurrent difficulty. There was no secret level or anything to Someone else must open the cows other than an Easter Egg style joke portal for you. This restriction does not apply in '''[[Diablo I2: Resurrected]]'''.* [[Wirt's Leg]] can always be re-obtained from his body in [[Tristram]]. The Leg you use must have been obtained on the current difficulty, but Legs from other difficulties will not work.* The number of scrolls inside the D2 team obviously got their inspiration from that, Tome does not matter and worked it will not affect the whole level into Diablo II"quality" of your portal or loot.

The first hint of area is a secret cow level came on April 1single outdoor zone, 1999, over a year before Diablo II was released, when {[:Image:Questwith no sub-cows-earlylevels or dungeons.jpg|this screenshotIt resembles [[Blood Moor]] was released. It was taken as simply an April Fools' Joke at the time, but with wide-open spaces and the joke was clearly on us, as things turned outoccasional wooden fencing. The cow level in [[Hell Bovine]]s densely populate the final game does not take place in the Act One caveswhole zone. Somewhere inside is a wooden "fort" with higher walls, open corners, nor are any of and the cows brown in coloration, so clearly there were some changes made during development[[Cow King]].

[[Image:Quest-cow-portal.jpg|thumb|155px|right]]Prior to v1.02 you could go to the ==Cow Level as many times as you wanted to, so if you really love it in single player, you could uninstall, reinstall Diablo II, King and then play do the Cow Level with your open or single player characters as many times as you want to, as long as you don't upgrade past v1.01. In the current version, you may repeat the Cow Level as often as you like, providing you do not receive quest credit for killing the cow king. Multiple Visits==

As for the Cow Level itself, it's about what you would expect. Cows and more cows, called [[Hell Bovine]]s, appear in huge, almost neverImage:Quest-ending herds. By far the most tightlycow-packed monsters you see anywhere in the game can be found in the Cow Level. Every cow looks the same, there is no variation in coloration or weaponry at all. They all have massive polearms, and do quite heavy damage when they strike you with their very fast attacksking.jpg|frame]]

The level is all on the surface, there aren't any sub levels or dungeon or cave areas, but there is Secret Cow Level always contains a main wooden stockade sort of areasingle super-unique monster, with walls just like those in the Rogue Encampment[[Cow King]]. It is square can be hard to distingush the King in shape, with openings on all sides, and a number crowd of dead Rogues lying around, and others tied to stakes, as you often see them in Act One. It's not a real good place to fight in, since the approaching other cows can easily fill every exit and you do not want to be cornered by them. Being cornered or too surrounded will get you scenes like this, and as you can imagine, body-retrieval can be a challengebut he is always [[Lightning Enchanted]].

Somewhere inside or just outside In '''[[Diablo 2]]''' and '''[[Lord of the "fort" as itDestruction]]'''s called, a hidden quest tracks whether or not you'll find have defeated the Cow Kingin the current difficulty. He is always Lightning EnchantedWhenever the Cow King dies, anyone currently inside the Secret Cow Level will receive credit for the quest, and should '''be avoided if you wish to retain the ability unable to open the portal to the levelagain in the current difficulty'''.

[[Image:Quest-cow-king.jpg|frame]]You can open Having the red portal to the cow level as many times as you like, providing you don't get credit for killing the kingrestriction placed on your character is almost always considered undesirable. Credit Joining public Cow Level games is given if you kill him yourselftherefore extreemly risky, as other players may accidentally or he dies at the hand of another player who has never killed him before, while you are in intentionally kill the Cow Level. Being partied or not has no effect on the credit for the quest, it only matters who kills the Kingeven if you avoid him.

* Kill the The Cow King yourself.* Damage drops his own unique set items, the [[Cow King in a game when someone else kills him to earn credit for killing him's Leathers]].

The boss monster for the level is The Cow King, [[Hell Bovine]]s all wield polearms and he's there every game, always spawning somewhere inside or very near the wooden fortmove slowly. They attempt to defeat players with their sheer numbers and can stunlock and kill you quite quickly if you get surrounded. He has minions as well, just like any random boss in the gameRanged characters will want to kite cows into tighter groups to better manage them.

You can see full stats for the [[Cow King]] here. He doesn't differ in appearance from the other cows in any way; no crown or different coloration or longer horns, though on hell he often The level is Aura Enchanteddensely populated, so you'll spot him by area-of-effect attacks or skills thathit multiple enemies at once work best. There are often random Cow Bosses Bovines have no immunities and champions scattered throughout the area, and with them all identical in appearance it's hard to tell if a monster is the king or not until you kill some to clear out the mob. The King is always Lightning Enchantedlow resistances, so that's one way to tell him immediatelythey can be farmed by most builds.

Prior to v1.08 Because of the Cow King was a guaranteed special dropextreme number of enemies, like the Act Bosses, though only two [[Hell Bovine]]s are often farmed both with and without [[Magic Find]]. Characters that have low Magic Find will be able to find socketed items. Uniques and Sets were almost guaranteed white base items more easily from him with some MFcows. In v1.09 he was toned down, and he only drops at about the The Cow Level is a level of a SuperUnique now. On 81 zone in Hell his Treasure Class is much lower than that of the normal cows, so while he will never it does not drop top the best items (level items85+), he can but it does drop quite a few low level Elite high ''number'' of items such as Bramble Mitts, Dusk Shrouds, Shakos, etcmaking cows also ideal for farming [[runes]].

=Strategy=History==

The [[Image:Quest-cows-early.jpg|thumb|300px|left|First look at Cows, April Fools, 1999.]]There were player-created rumors/jokes about a Secret Cow Level requires some unusual strategy. First of allin [[Diablo I]], based on the only way cows in is through the red portalpasture in [[Tristram]] that would moo, which does not always spawn in a safe location. It's a good idea or cause your character to get away from it as quickly as possiblesay something amusing, since if it gets swarmed and you leave clicked the level through it, or die, you will not be able to return safelybovines long enough.

There is no secret level or anything related to the cows other than an Easter Egg style joke in [[Image:Quest-cow-death.jpg|thumb|300px|Don't get swarmed.]]The [[Hell BovineDiablo Hellfire]]s are very slow of foot, but they hit hard and have fairly rapid attacks, so caution must be used when tanking them. Their greatest strength comes from their numbers, simply because 10 cows swinging at your character, at onceBlizzard repeatedly denied its existence in both serious and humorous ways, such as the {{iw|StarCraft StarCraft}} cheat code "there is a bad situation for almost anyoneno cow level."

The best characters for the cow level have ranged attacks that can strike multiple targets at the same time. Javazons might as well have been designed specifically to excel in the Cow Level, thanks to Lightning FuryHowever, which is more effective the more targets there are in range. Other highly useful skills against [[Diablo]] II team apparently drew upon the Cows include Nova, Corpse Explosion, Multishotrumor for inspiration, and Death Sentryworked the whole level into Diablo II. Anything that hits many targets per use will come into its own against [[Blizzard North]] employees provided voice-acting for the cows.

The basic strategy for the first hint of a secret cow level varies a lot. If your character has a powerful area attackcame on April 1, 1999, you want to run around with over a purposeyear before Diablo II was released, getting as many when [[:Image:Quest-cows following you as possible-early.jpg|this screenshot]] was released. This is known It was taken as "herding". Run around simply an April Fools' Joke at the mobstime, "knitting" them into bigger packsbut the joke was clearly on us, so you can attack huge mobs at onceas things turned out. Characters with less powerful skills will probably want to The cow level in the final game does not take on place in the Act One caves, nor are any of the cows a few at a time, and should advance slowly and carefullybrown.

==RunTrivia==

The hardest part is when you first arrive: The red * There was no truth behind the rumors of a cow level in Diablo I.* Prior to v1.02, single player characters could circumvent the restrictions on the portal appears recipie by uninstalling and re-installing the game.* In v1.09 the Cow Level was among the most profitable areas in some random locationthe game, usually against one of and was the outer stone wallsmost popular since it was so easy to rack up huge experience quickly. Sometimes you are It became less valuable in a safe spotv1.10, when the experience given by the cows was cut and their item dropping lowered.* Even though this level exists, the aforementioned jokes on the topic is still referred to by {{iw|Blizzard_Entertainment Blizzard}}, but other times saying "there will be cows galore right awayis no Cow Level". As many as 30 or 40 coming at you immediately* The item set named [[Cow King's Leathers]], from all directionscan only be found in the Secret Cow Level. You need * The cheat code to try and kill them without moving too far skip a level in any directionStarCraft refers to the Diablo I rumor. In order to skip a level, since if you do you'll get into sight of more cowsthe player has to write "There Is No Cow Level" (obviously, and another 20 or 30 will move it does exist inDiablo II). The cows * In {{iw|WarCraft_III WarCraft III: Frozen Throne}} playing the chapter "Curse of the Blood Elves", there is a 'Secret Sheep Level' that can see farther than be accessed. It's basically Blizzard's version of a Tower Defense. In the edges course of your visible screenunlocking, many sheep are involved, giving it's name, so get used referencing the Secret Cow Level.* {{iw|World_of_WarCraft World of WarCraft}} features an item called Cow King's Hide to reference the secret level.* A free web enhancement to them moving deliberately towards you{{Iw|To_Hell_and_Back To Hell and Back}} and {{iw|Diablerie Diablerie}} called {{iw|Secret_Cow_Level_(DnD) the Secret Cow Level}} emulates the cow level in the RPG with statistics for the enemy cows.* In The Six Sacred Stones, "moo-mooa novel by Matthew Reilly'ings, a pair of supporting character twins frequently sport shirts saying " all I have seen the time.Cow level!" and subsequently "There is no cow level!"

The best equipment for the cow level is magic find gear, or else defensive stuff* [http://forums. Especially useful is a high defense, and equipment with -% damagediabloii.net/showthread. Shaftstop, Rockstopper, Stormshield, etcphp?t=341175 Cow Level Forum thread]* [https://www. If you can cut the physical damage you take, you'll be much more likely to survive attacksdiabloii. A high blocking percentage is very useful as well, as are Dodge and Evade for Amazonsnet/forums/threads/urliks-rune-finders-guide-v2-0-released.178289/ Rune Finder's Guide]

Very few things changed for the Expansion. A character must kill Baal to be eligible to enter, rather than Diablo, but that's about it. The value and difficulty of the cows has fluctuated from patch to patch, and may yet change again in future versions of the game. In v1.09 the Cow Level was among the most profitable areas in the game, and was the most popular since it was so easy to rack up huge experience quickly. It became less valuable in v1.10, when the experience given by the cows was cut and their item dropping lowered.  [[category:quests]]__NOTOC__