How to make 1 million Gold an Hour in Diablo 3

... and turn that into real cash.

Making gold in Diablo 3 can seem like an easy task when you first hop into the game. Thousands of gold within minutes, and before an hour is up, you've made 20k. It's a big currency jump if you've played World of Warcraft, but you shouldn't get too excited, just yet.

If you're like me, you checked your gold and thought, "Wow! I'm gonna hit the AH and buy gear!" and it's almost 100% likely that you will be disappointed. This guide shows you how to make the most gold possible, with a minimal amount of effort, it will show you some of the same tricks and tips of every other gold making mogul, but it will do it for free!


Step 1 - Levelling your character.

Most people will tell you not to level what you want. They say you should play a demon hunter or a wizard because they can progress farther than other classes, but my guide only requires that you know how to play your class.

Levelling your character does not require a large investment of gear, and really, until you get to hell mode, you won't need to have decent stats at all. Just progress through the game, and enjoy it, over and over, throughout the different modes, and try not to spend too much of your hard earned gold.

Once you hit level 51-53 you will be entering Hell Mode, this is slightly harder, but it's still nothing like Inferno. The number one tip I can give you is to start to search for a good weapon, with at least 600 dps, that has a reduced level requirement on the AH. They tend to cost around 40k gold, but it's a small investment, since it will allow you to breeze through Hell mode, and reach Inferno.

Step 2 - Gearing up for Inferno

Gearing up and getting ready for inferno mode is not exactly an easy, or inexpensive, task. I do, however, find that the easiest way was with my barbarian, and once you've reviewed the specs below you will see why.

Everyone says to "stack All Resists", but if you follow my advice you will never have to leave Act 1. So you don't need 1000 in all resists, in fact, you don't even really need 500 resist.
I would get an average of 300 in all resists, mixed with vitality, and your primary stat. If you're a Wizard of Witch Doctor you could forgo the resists all together, and go for high intelligence, which will in turn give you resists.

Average stats to solo Act 1 Inferno all the way through are as follows:
300-500 All Resists
20-25k HP
20k DPS

NOTE: Gold find and Magic find are both desirable if your intent is to make money. Be sure to put either a gold find or magic find gem in your helm (if it has a socket).  Gold find is arguably better because Every pile of gold you find will be increased by your GF stat, where as magic find will only allow for the possibility of getting more magic items, but the drop is not guaranteed.
I do enjoy stacking magic find for the below run though, as you get two bosses that drop a large amount of magical items, and when you add in the GF and MF from Nephalam Valor, you're going to have a very high chance of finding magical items, which means more gold.

Step 3 - The Run

The fastest way I have found to make gold requires you to have cleared Act 1.
Once you have done that, start a new game at "The Imprisoned Angel - Cursed Hold". This will allow you to portal in to "Halls of Agony Level 2".
Your goal here is to progress through the Halls of Agony to the Cursed Hold in about 5 minutes, quickly dispatching between 2-3 elite packs as you go. If you use the builds I post, you'll see that it can be rather simple to do so.

Once you reach the exit, you will be outside for a short while. There tends to be about a 1/3 chance that there will be a quest giver outside. Accept his quest, as this guarantees extra gold, and also that an elite pack will be along your path. Deal with the elite pack to add to your growing stacks of Nephalam Valor.
This should bring you to about 3-4 stacks total.

Walk inside and accept the quest from the ghost. Cover the whole area killing the elite packs until you get 5 stacks of Valor. Quickly finish the quest, then head to the middle.
There is often a shrine in the centre, and it's almost always a Fortune Shrine, when it decides to spawn.
If it is a fortune shrine, be sure to grab it just as the Warden appears. Kill him quickly, and he will drop an average of 5-8 magic items, and 2 guaranteed rare items, if you have 5 stacks of Valor.


Continue the quest, and descend into the next area with the goal of reaching the Butcher as quickly as possible.


The Butcher fight in Inferno mode actually requires a small amount of thinking, unlike in the previous modes. But I'm here to give you a little insight.

If he starts to jump Three Times - Get out of the way, or suffer a huge amount of damage.
If you're planning to Stay at Range - Zigzag to avoid his hook, or he will most likely one shot you.
and if he Glows red and shoots a beam of fire from his chest - move out of the way of the beam, and he will hit the wall, and stun him self for a few seconds.

When he dies, he will drop slightly less loot than the Warden, on average, but he will still drop 2 rares, as long as you have 5 stacks of Valor.

Go and finish the quest, and you'll get a 3400g reward, and the cultists might drop a little extra loot, too.

Step 4 - Turning your drops into Gold

First step when you get back to town is to have the Blacksmith salvage every Level 60 blue. UNLESS it is a 2-handed weapon with at least 800 DPS, or if it vendors for more than 1600g.

If it is a rare item that has no "Resist all" or it's stats are Lower than 100, then vendor it, unless it's level 60, in which case you salvage it.
If it's a class specific rare, with decent stats then it may be worth selling.

Put the mats, as well as any tomes of secrets, gems (flawless square or higher), and any goods worth selling, into your stash. And make sure to vendor anything that wasn't worth selling or salvaging before you log out.

Once you're on the AH check the going price of tomes of Secrets, Exquisite Essences, Iridescent Tears, Fiery Brimstone (if you were lucky enough to get any) and Flawless Square Gems.

Undercut the current price by at least 30 gold. In the current state of the game, crafting mats put up in this way will sell within minutes, if not instantly.
Once you have sold your crafting mats, search for the average stats on your items, and put them up on the AH. Keep in mind that many things are overpriced, and very few of the items priced over 100k will actually sell the first time they're put up. Although Wizard sources seem to be an exception.

Collect your Gold! I normally find at LEAST one rare worth selling that goes for around 90k within it's first posting, and amulets and rings almost always sell for at least 10k.

Between the 90k I get from selling items to the vendor + gold I picked up during the run, and the money I make from the auctions, I seem to get around 250k in about 15 minutes (give or take). Which gives an average of 1 million gold and hour!
If you're goal is just to make gold then you're set.
If you intend to make real money, then stay tuned for Step 5 - Cash, which I will be posting within this week.


Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed my guide, and stay tuned for updates.


Templar Tank Top

How to Make 1 million gold an hour in Diablo 3 (cont.)

Step 5 - Cash

Making cash playing video games has long been something whispered in the shadows of the web, but finally, Diablo 3 is allowing you, the player, to make cash while having fun, 100% Legally.

It stands to reason that a large bunch of the player base is unable to use the real money auction house (rmah) due to age, an unwillingngness to spend real money on items, or even no access to a cell phone - That leads us to believe that gold will be a valued commodity, as the majority of items can, and will, still be sold for gold.

This makes gold the thing to sell on the rmah. On this day (11/06/2012) Gold farmers are currently selling 1 Million Diablo 3 gold for $9.99. Now, you have to factor in a few things before you consider making real money playing this game.

1) The things I will tell you are legal, and do not violate the EULA (end user licence agreement), therefore, people will be more willing to spend money.

2) This is convenient. They are already on the AH and they want to buy a legendary for 20 million gold, they only have 10 million, but they really want that legendary. So they hop over to the rmah and the same item is $250 USD (this is the max price something can be on the rmah), but 10 million gold is only $99 (this is just speculation of course), so they buy the gold, then buy the item. And they didn't even have to log out.

3) The gold farmers will continue to sell lower and lower, but I, and many others, are quite certain that a million gold will run at at least $9.99 on the AH for a while to come, because it's easier, and safer, and within the EULA.
You may be thinking "Yeah, but the farmers will just put their gold on the rmah!", and that is a possibility, however, it's a good chance that they aren't willing share a cut with Blizzard. Which brings us to #4.

4) Blizzard isn't stupid, they take a cut. This cut is 15% for commodities, so out of your $9.99 you will be left with $8.49, if you choose to transfer it into your "Blizzard Balance" they take no additional cut, but you can't move the money out later. It can only be used for Blizzard merchandise (games, subscriptions, etc) or to buy things on the RMAH. However, if you choose to have it deposited directly into your paypal account they take another 15%.

5) Items may also sell. They will need to be spectacular in order to go for too much money, but a decent weapon, or piece of equipment, might fetch anywhere from $10-100 (at least as of the launch of the rmah).
Blizzard charges a flat fee for equipment of $1.00, and take a 15% cut if you're transferring it to your paypal account.

It all seems good, but it's not guaranteed. You can't quit your job and play Diablo 3 for money, and be 100% certain that you'll never have to work again. But it sure might be nice to make some extra cash here and there.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for my class builds.
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