How and where to get the Hellfire Amulet in Diablo 3

I spent a lot of time killing the Keywardens in Diablo 3 and not knowing why I was doing it. I mean, they were there, they were monsters, it was Diablo 3 — I didn’t really need a reason. So for a long time, I was just accumulating Infernal Machines in my bank for no reason. Luckily, I’m married to someone a lot smarter than I am, and so eventually I was clued into the fact that I could use those self-same Infernal Machines to craft the Hellfire Ring or Hellfire Amulet, and the Amulet in particular is a really good item for a neck slot item for even an experienced character.

What do the Hellfire Ring and Hellfire Amulet do?

The Hellfire Ring is great for your alts, due to its XP bonus — a level 70 Hellfire Ring can be equipped by a level 1 character and grants a 45% XP bonus, the best in the game. If you’re trying to power level an alt, the Hellfire Ring is one of the best options. Since the Ring and the Amulet require the same materials to craft the level-70 version, we’ll focus on the Amulet from here on out. It should be pointed out that the level-70 version of the Ring is generated using the Smart Loot system, so it may not be optimal for the class you intend to use it on, but even if it has bad stats for your alt, that 45% XP bonus is still pretty amazing.

The Hellfire Amulet itself is a worthwhile creation but you may have to end up farming Keywardens and grinding the various bosses inside the four portals in order to get the passive skill you want on it. The main draw of the necklace for a level-70 character is the passive skill and the socket it automatically creates, allowing you to slap in a legendary gem. But getting the precise passive skill you want for your class is random, and so, you may end up making the Hellfire Amulet several times before you get one that works for the spec you’re trying to use it with.

Where do you get the Hellfire Amulet?

In order to get the Hellfire Amulet, the first thing you have to do is find Squirt the Peddler, who lives in the Act 2 campsite next to the Transmog vendor. She sells the plans for the Amulet, which will cost you 5 million gold. Yes, five million. Trust me, after a while, you won’t even notice you’re spending that much for anything.

After you have the plans, you’ll want to make sure your Jeweler is leveled all the way up, so get that done, and then start looking for the four Keywardens. You’ll need to be killing them on Torment 1 or higher in Adventure Mode, so if you’re not capable of killing stuff on Torment yet, you’re not going to enjoy trying to farm these guys. Each Keywarden is in a different Act, so if you’re running around doing bounties anyway, keep an eye out for them. Since you’re only capable of making the Hellfire Amulet for a level 70, you’ll be farming them at level 70, which means they’ll each drop a specific Infernal Machine. But because they were originally (and still are) part of the level 60 Hellfire Ring crafting process, they don’t appear in any Act V areas.

• Odeg the Keywarden appears in Act 1’s Fields of Misery and drops the Infernal Machine of Regret.
• Sokahr the Keywarden can be found in the Dahlgur Oasis in Act 2 and drops the Infernal Machine of Putridness.
• Xah’Rith the Keywarden stalks the Stonefort in Act 3 and provides the Infernal Machine of Terror.
• Nekarat the Keywarden wanders the Gardens of Hope Second Tier in Act 4 and is the source of the Infernal Machine of Fright.

Once you’ve killed these guys — potentially multiple times, as they may not drop the Infernal Device on every kill — and collected the various Infernal Machines, you go to Act 1’s Tristram and find the Heretic’s Abode.

Infernal Machines and the hosts of Hell

It’s next to Brother Malachi, the dude who won’t stop complaining. Smash in the door and you’ll end up in what my wife charitably describes as a Medieval Gimp Basement, wherein you can use one of the four kinds of Infernal Machines to open a portal to a pocket realm. Each realm spawns super-hard versions of bosses from the game, and better still, you end up having to kill two of them at the same time. Well, except for the last one — that one’s a buffed-up version of Diablo, and that one summons multiple other bosses during the fight so you want to stomp the warty thing’s butt as hard and fast as you can.

Once you’ve killed all of the various super-powerful bosses and gathered the crafting  materials you need — this also may take repeated kills to get everything you need — you can pop over to your Jeweler and craft yourself the Hellfire Amulet. Because you’re making it at level 70, it’s also crafted using the smart loot system, so it may or may not have the Passive Skill you want for your build. In addition to the Heart of Evil, Vial of Putridness, Leoric’s Regret, and the Idol of Terror from the various portals, you’ll need 10 Forgotten Souls and 50,000 gold to craft just one Hellfire Amulet, so if you don’t get the Passive Skill you were looking for? Go back and kill those four Keywardens again, because you’ll be repeating the whole process.

That’s how to get yourself a Hellfire Amulet. Hey, as a positive, even if the Amulet you craft isn’t the one you want, it’s a crazy strong necklace that you can send to a level-1 alt, and you can even socket it with a gem to boost them still further. It’s probably worth crafting a Hellfire Ring for them, too — it uses the same mats and process, and it will grant them a 45% XP boost.