"% Better Chance of Getting Magic Item" does not increase the Chances of getting an Exceptional Item but if you do roll an Exceptional Item the chance of that being Magical/Rare will increase.
How do Chance to Find Magic Items really work?
If you find an item that gives 20% Better Chance of Getting a Magic Item, and a Monster has a 2% chance to drop a Magic
Item, you will now have 2.4% Chance of getting that Magic Item.
I have a 100% better chance of getting magic items but I don’t get them all the time why?
This is base upon the monsters chance to drop an item. With a 100% better chance of getting a magic item, a monster with a 1%
chance of dropping a magical item would have that random chance go up to 2%.
What exactly are "Magic Items"
Magic Items in this definition include Magic Items, Set Items, Unique Items and Rare Items.
Is there a cap on Magic Find?
No.
Is there an ideal % Magic Find Number?
No. The more the better. Previously a bug resulted a penalty for more than a certain percentage, but
this has been fixed.
I heard if you get Magic Find high enough you get all Sets and Uniques
No. This was the case in previous versions due to a bug but that has been corrected (sorry!).
Will Magic Find work on Barrels, Chests, or other non Monsters that drop items?
Yes.
Does Magic Find work on bosses?
Yes.
Will Magic Find work on Runes?
No. It has no bearing on the number of Runes you'll find (you don't find more magic items and less
Runes for example, nor is there a greater chance of getting a Rune or a better Rune, etc.)
Will Magic Find work to increase finding Magic Items with the Barbarian's Find Item Skill?
Yes.
Will Magic Find help getting better Items from Gambling?
No.
Will Magic Find work with Minions and Hirelings?
Yes. When you make a kill, you get the Magic Find % of yourself only. When a
Hireling gets a kill, it uses the combined Magic Find of the Hireling and you.
How does Magic Find work in a Party?
The chance to get a Magic Item will be determined on the player that makes the killing blow on the
monster. If the party has several items that give a Better Chance of Getting Magic Item,
they are not added together, whichever party member makes the killing blow will determine
the chance of getting a Magic Item. For the best results, have the player in the party that has
the best Chance of Getting a Magic Item finish off all the monsters.
Magic Find Returns
While there is no cap on Magic Find there is a diminishing return formula (that is not available) that becomes active over 10% Magic Find for
Rare, Set, and Unique Items (But Not Regular Violet (Blue) Magic Items). This does not mean that it's useless to get over 10% but
it does mean that the benefits drop off as you get higher and higher Magic Find. The most Magic Find is still better than less Magic
Find.
Maxing Magic Find
So you want to be the king or queen of Magic Find? A common comment is with a lot of Magic Find
you'll not be able to kill anything. Some classes such as spell casters (Sorceress, Necromancer,
Elemental Druid) are more capable of sacrificing all equipment for Magic Find. You may wish to create
"Magic Find Characters" to "farm" or find items then use those items on other characters.
Here's how to get the most (1167%) out of Magic Find for yourself. This does not count the maximum possible with Hirelings but you only receive that bonus when Hirelings make a kill. Add Magic Find to Hirelings to increase Magic Find even more. Some items are pretty rare making it difficult but not impossible (especially with time and trading) to obtain the most Magic Find. Alternative "poor man" items are suggested.
Helm (100%)
110% Artisan's Tiara of Luck (35%) Socketed with three 24% Perfect Topaz or three 25% Ist Runes.
90% Set Avenger Guard: Immortal King's Will (Barbarian Only) (40% Socketed with Two 24% Perfect Topazes or Two 25% Ist Runes)
80% Set Corona: Griswold's Valor (30%) Socketed with Two 24% Perfect Topazes or Two 25% Ist Runes
74-75% Harlequin Crest (50% + Socketed with One 24% Perfect Topaz or a 25% Ist Rune)
or 74-75% Tarnhelm (Perfect 50% Tarnhelm + Socketed with One 24% Perfect Topaz or 25% Ist Rune)
or 74-75% Stealskull (Perfect 50% Stealskull + Socketed with One 24% Perfect Topaz or 25% Ist Rune)
or 72% 3 Socketed Helm with 3 Perfect Topazes.
Armor (148%)
148% Skullder's Ire (1.25-123% + Socketed with 24% Perfect Topaz or 25% Ist Rune)
or 112-113% Tal Rasha's Guardianship (88% + Socketed with 24% Perfect Topaz or 25% Ist Rune)
or 100% Wealth Rune Word Armor
or 1-99% Enigma Rune Word Armor
or 96% 4 Socketed Armor with 4 Perfect Topazes.
Weapon 1 (180%)
180% 6 Socketed Weapon with 6 Ist Runes (180%, very hard to do based on Rune Availability)
or 159% Unique Sword: Blade of Ali Baba 99% with 2 30% Ist Runes Socketed
or 117-130% Unique Dagger: Gull (100% + Socketed with 5-17% Magic Find Jewel or 30% Ist Rune) or 6 Socketed Weapon with Several Magic Find Jewels (30-102%, somewhat hard to do based on Jewel Availability)
Weapon 2 (180%)(Barbarians Only)
180% 6 Socketed Weapon with 6 Ist Runes (180%, very hard to do based on Rune Availability)
or 159% Unique Sword: Blade of Ali Baba 99% with 2 30% Ist Runes Socketed
or 117-130% Unique Dagger: Gull (100% + Socketed with 5-17% Magic Find Jewel or 30% Ist Rune) or 6 Socketed Weapon with Several Magic Find Jewels (30-102%, somewhat hard to do based on Jewel Availability)
Shield (100%)
4 Socket Shield with 4 Ist Runes (100%, very hard to do)
or 3 Socket Shield with 3 Ist Runes (75%, very hard to do)
or 3 or 4 Socket Shield with 3-4 Jewels of 5-17% Magic Find (15-68%)
or Milabrega's Orb socketed with a Ist Rune (45%)
or Rhyme Rune Word Shield (25%)
Belts (30%)
30% Unique Goldwrap Heavy Belt
or 15% Tal Rasha's Fine-Spun Cloth - Combined with Tal Rasha's Adjudication (Amulet) and Tal Rasha's Guardianship (Armor) you'll receive +65% Magic Find which will be equal or greater than a 48% Amulet and 30% Goldwrap. An alternative is the 100% Wealth Rune Word, 30% Goldwrap and 48% Amulet.
Boots (50%)
50% War Traveler (Unique Battle Boots)
or Magic Boots of Luck (35%)
or 34% Magic Find Rare Boots (can only be found by trading for Pre 1.08 Patch boots)
Gloves (40%)
40% Unique Chain Gloves: Chance Guards
or Rare 34% Magic Find Gloves (can only be found by trading for Pre 1.08 Patch Gloves)
or 25% Magic/Rare Gloves
Amulets (50%)
50% Magic Fortuitous Amulet of Luck
or 48% Rare Amulet (only found by trading for Amulets before 1.08 Patch)
or 35% Rare Amulet
Rings (80%)
(2) 40% Magic Fortuitous Rings of Fortune
or (2) 30% Nagelrings
or (2) 32% Magic Find Rare Rings (Only found Trading for items before 1.08 Patch)
or (2) 25% Magic Find Rare Rings
Charms (299%)
1 perfect Gheed's Fortune Grand Charm (%40) and 7% Small Charms (37 of them at 7% = 259%, you would have to drop Charms to pick up items) which is equal to %299. 27 7% Charms is ideal. This leaves room for a 3x2 item and the Horadric Cube. You can place your keys and Tomes in the Horadric Cube then move them out into the open space to use them. This can be frustrating to do and is only recommended for extreme players.
Magic Find Percentages
Magic Find doesn't boost your odds of finding everything equally. It's all the same up to 100%, but after that your odds of finding Rares, Sets, and Uniques drop steeply. Blizzard added this in since it's possible to get such huge Magic Find numbers in the Expansion, and they didn't want it to be so easy to find the really good/scarce stuff.
| Magic Find | Magical | Rares | Set Items | Uniques |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| 150% | 150% | 146% | 145% | 141% |
| 200% | 200% | 185% | 183% | 171% |
| 250% | 250% | 220% | 215% | 193% |
| 300% | 300% | 250% | 242% | 211% |
| 400% | 400% | 300% | 287% | 236% |
| 500% | 500% | 340% | 322% | 253% |
| 750% | 750% | 412% | 382% | 280% |
| 1000% | 1000% | 460% | 421% | 295% |
| 1200% | 1200% | 494% | 448% | 305% |
| 1500% | 1500% | 520% | 468% | 312% |