PurpleSerpent's Guide to the Monster Manual

[PurpleSerpent]

Welcome to PurpleSerpent’s Guide to the Monster Manual! Listed here are a set of good locations to farm monsters to quickly fill out your Slayer objectives for each entry in the various Monster Manuals.

Please note that this list is entirely based on the information I was able to find out myself, so I may be missing a few good spawn locations, especially for quests or Monster Manuals that have been released recently. This said, if you think there are any particularly glaring omissions, do feel free to comment them below!

If you're looking to complete Hunter objectives, have a look at this page on the DDO Wiki, which includes links to lists of monsters found in each Monster Manual.

(Finally, a word to the wise - finishing the entire Monster Manual is a gargantuan undertaking, and requires hitting a couple of fantastically unrealistic targets - 1,600 Glabrezu springs to mind. If you’re going to try it, just don’t say I didn’t warn you.)

This guide was last updated on: 28th March 2024 (Update 67)

Prologue
Human

• Frankly, I wouldn’t bother. Humans are so common you’ll probably get this automatically while farming for other stuff. If I had to suggest something, though, I’d go with the Dr Rushmore’s Mansion challenges - you can rack up a decent tally if you ignore any crest collecting and just run round the portraits in the first room.

Rat

• A large swarm of rats can be found in the pit trap in Watch Your Step. This is a very efficient way of farming for them - recall as soon as you finish the King of the Pile miniboss.
• Swarms of rats are also common enemies throughout the quests in Against the Slave Lords.
• Finally, a rare encounter atop the pile of corpses in the Heroic Orchard of the Macabre may spawn over 50 rats.

Skeleton

• Skeletons appear in great volumes throughout the Catacombs chain, but The Crypt of Gerard Dryden is one of the fastest ways of getting to them.
• Alternatively, the four braziers in From Beyond the Grave, until lit, spawn an infinite supply of skeletons. If you run round to trigger all four of them, then guard the gate from zombies, at least one brazier will be in range for the skeletons to attack you as well.
• Higher-level characters should try the Ruins of Thunderholme wilderness area and raids, which feature hundreds of wandering dwarven skeletons. Fire on Thunder Peak, in particular, features them as quickly respawning trash.

Sahuagin

• The Final Enemy features many sahuagin both in the quest and around its entrance. If just after Sahuagin numbers, don’t bother with the underwater level - it’s much slower to navigate and has far less of them.
• Kobold Island also features frequently respawning waves of Sahuagin, and is an excellent place to farm for them if you’re in a group (this will dramatically increase the spawn volume.)

Spider

• Caught in the Web is an excellent place to farm for spiders, especially during the Portal Masters phase, where they respawn quickly and in large numbers. You’ll have to be able to solo it, though, as getting a raid group for it can be a very slow process.
• On a slightly more accessible note, Arachnophobia features about 30 spiders and only takes a couple of minutes to run.
• Finally, if you have a way of dealing damage automatically and some time to kill, try parking a character at the opposite end of a corridor from a spider nest in ToEE: First Level and Earth Temple. While alive, these generate large volumes of weak spiderlings.

Volume 1
Rust Monster

• A high number of Rust Monsters appear in the early stages of Rainbow in the Dark.
• The western beach of Ataraxia’s Haven also has quite a few Rust Monsters, although there’s quite a run to it, so this approach is best done with a horse.

Bat

• High volumes of bats appear in the latter stages of A Vision of Destruction and its legendary variant.
• If you’re not up to a raid, large swarms of bats also appear in the Fire Node of the Temple of Elemental Evil and in the early stages of Search and Rescue.

Troll

• Numerous Trolls appear in Gateway to Khyber, the mini-quest leading up to Jungle of Khyber. As an added bonus, despite this being typed as a quest, you can use a horse in it.
• Trolls also spawn in large numbers in the Dreadwood area of the Saltmarsh - this is up around the ruined tower with the entrance to Back to Basics, and the northwest region of the map with all the rare encounters.

Bugbear

• The Eastern route of White Plume Mountain features a number of Bugbears as guards. Remember to memorise the Sphinx’s riddles so you don’t have to waste time on a boss fight.
• While Crystal Cove is active, numerous bugbears appear as enemies near players in the level range 13-16.

Hobgoblin

• The Tear of Dhakaan and A Cabal for One are both long quests that throw hobgoblins at you basically constantly. Of the two, Tear of Dhakaan is the easiest to get to, as Cabal for One is higher level and in a wilderness area.
• Alternatively, large numbers of hobgoblins appear in the fortress area of Secret of the Slavers’ Stockade. Recall and reset as soon as you reach the underground area, because from that point on, it’s only Kobolds.
• While Crystal Cove is active, level 9-12 players will constantly attract hobgoblin pirates.

Kobold

• The Kobold Island challenges feature large numbers of respawning Kobolds which you can run round and farm. If just after Kobold numbers, I’d advise soloing this as Kobold spawns are not based on the number of players present and there’ll be less trash bothering you.
• The Anniversary Party and Crystal Cove events also feature many Kobolds, although Anniversary Party is only efficient if you have a large party and Crystal Cove only spawns Kobolds for level 1-4 players.

Troglodyte

• Large numbers of Fiendish Troglodytes appear in the early stages of The Shroud and its legendary version. For maximum efficiency, recall and reset after finishing Phase One.
• For solo players, Acid Wit, The Troglodytes’ Get, and Freshen the Air all feature large tribes of Troglodytes. Make sure not to finish The Troglodytes’ Get as you’ll need to run the second quest in the chain as well if you want to reset it. On the other hand, do stick around for the optional objective after you finish Acid Wit.

Halfling

• Halflings appear in many places around the game, but the only place in which they really spawn en masse is in the first section of Smash and Burn. Note that the final room only contains Forgewraiths, so you can recall and reset after killing Stephen Suade.
• Other quests featuring the Boromar Clan are also a good shout, including the opening sections of A Sharn Welcome, the areas of the Cogs around Smash and Burn, and the third kitchen in Too Many Cooks.

Zombie

• The Disruptor variant of Kobold Island, when run in a group, spawns large waves of zombies almost constantly.
• Players with Wall of Fire or similar AoE spells are best off setting up shop right in front of the gate in From Beyond the Grave - an unlimited supply of Zombies will be rising from the ground right in front of you. Similarly, the Necromancers in the southern portion of all versions of The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar spawn zombies in large numbers endlessly.

Scorpion

• Raid the Vulkoorim, a short walk-up in the Menechtarun desert, features a high number of scorpions. Ignore the tunnel to the west - it only contains Gnolls.
• Alternatively, the first wave of any difficulty of Devil Assault includes a high number of Scorpions.

 

[PurpleSerpent]

Volume 2
Wolf

• Wolves, and goblins riding them, are commonplace in the Borderlands wilderness area. Make sure you stay in the forested and plains areas as they do not spawn in the river or mountain zones.
• Packs of Worgs, which count as wolves in the monster manual, also roam the Dreadwood areas of Saltmarsh.

Earth Elemental

• Three respawning Earth Elementals appear in one of the Elemental Chambers in The Lord of Eyes. Be warned - although convenient, farming the Elementals here is a tedious process.
• A slightly slower but far less repetitive method is ToEE: Earth Node, which handily can now be run without having to run through any other areas.

Mephit

• Mephits appear throughout all four of the elemental nodes in Temple of Elemental Evil. The Fire Node probably has the greatest density.
• Alternatively, numerous mephits can be found around the Extraplanar Palace challenges, and will also sometimes appear in swarms to assault your Kobolds.

Ooze

• Your best shot here is the infinitely respawning oozes in the ooze slicer zone of Thralls of the Fungus Lord. (Bring a Blueshine weapon - your equipment will be taking heavy damage here!)
• Quests set in sewers (such as Creeping Death) or marshes (such as the Saltmarsh wilderness) are also good places to look for oozes.

Gargoyle

• By far the fastest way to find Gargoyles is in ToEE’s Earth Node. This contains many large groups of them.
• As Gargoyles in Eberron are servants of Orlassk, quests in which he appears (The Lord of Stone, Terminal Delirium, Palace of Stone) are also gargoyle hotspots, though in lesser numbers.

Minotaur

• Frame Work is an excellent choice to farm Minotaurs - there are over one hundred of them, and since you’re not having to bother about stealth, you can charge through the streets without having to worry about setting off the bells.
• Alternatively, The Maze of Madness also offers fairly high numbers of minotaurs, although you’ll need a hireling or pet to let you through the maze.

Elf

• Elves are frankly difficult to farm for, as while they appear in many places, they rarely do so in large numbers. You may wish to try the Elf Courier and companions in Memoirs of an Illusory Larcener, the warehouse workers in Sinister Storage, or the illusory guards in Partycrashers.

Warforged

• The tile puzzle area of Vault of Night features pipes which respawn Warforged at a rapid rate. Leave a player behind in this area while you tackle the rest of the raid and you’ll clear these deeds in no time. (One of the flagging quests, Haywire Foundry, is also a good pick as it features Warforged pretty much throughout.)
• Alternatively, high numbers of warforged are present in the quests, raids and adventure areas in the Secrets of the Artificers pack. Note that the Chronoscope manifestations of the Bladeforged in Killing Time will not count.

Ghoul

• Ghouls are surprisingly hard to farm, but can be found in large numbers in the quests in The Necropolis Part One.
• Oddly, the Water Node, in the Temple of Elemental Evil, also features a large number of ghouls, as does the prison area in First Level and Earth Temple.

Wraith

• Wraiths spawn in many undead-focused quests, but appear in particular volumes in The Necropolis Part Two. I’d suggest farming for them in Tomb of the Shadow King - complete one run around each of the circles and then recall.
• King Raiyum, in Tomb of the Wizard King, is accompanied by respawning red-named wraiths on Epic Elite only. A few of these wraiths are also found around his tower.
• Free Delera has a small room right at the start with a few wraiths emerging from sarcophagi. After fighting the first Soul-Lock Guardian, recall and reset - the rate drops off after this point.

Volume 3
Beholder

• If you can handle tanking Xy’zzy, Hound of Xoriat starts spawning high volumes of Beholders about 10 minutes in. Most public user groups are near quest completion by this point so you will need to be able to solo. (Don’t try this on Legendary Hound of Xoriat - you will be overwhelmed long before the Beholders arrive.)
• Alternatively, Acute Delirium features many Beholders, including respawning mini-beholders during the airship construction phase.

Flesh Golem

• Flesh Maker’s Laboratory and its immediate surroundings are the only places in-game where Flesh Golems are common monsters. You should definitely be farming for them here.

Fire Elemental

• Similar to Earth Elementals, the Fire Node of the Temple of Elemental Evil and The Lord of Eyes are good places to find Fire Elementals. In this case, the Temple is likely the better option, because they spawn in nearly every encounter.
• Alternatively, Taming the Flames features many Fire Elementals, and some of them slowly respawn as the quest progresses.

Hill Giant

• Hill Giants are found scattered throughout the tunnels of both variants of the Lava Caves (Colossal Crystals and Time is Money.) To farm them efficiently, take the route round to the giant arena area, clear it, then recall and reset.
• Alternatively, many hill giants spawn in the third wave of Breaking the Ranks. Skip fighting the two minibosses in the previous waves.
• Finally, hill giants can often be found wandering the Ruins of Gianthold wilderness areas, although they are much less numerous.

Fiendish Lion

• Fiendish lions are fairly rare. They are most common in the Feywild wilderness, spawning in groups of about 2 to 4 (these are technically Razor Cats but still count.) They also appear in the Hard version of Devil Assault, where they are fortunately exempt from that quest’s troublesome bugs with the manual - recall and reset after wave 2 finishes.
• You may also be able to farm small groups of Fiendish Lions from the Temple of Arawai area in the Cerulean Hills, although for this you’ll definitely want a horse.

Hezrou

• Hezrou have just one good location that can be farmed quickly - the Archon fortress in Law and Order. Otherwise, you may wish to try the lava zones in The Spinner of Shadows (they respawn here, but slowly), or Caught in the Web, which at least tend to reach double digits in a single quest.
• Certain humanoid monsters in the Keep on the Borderlands chain may spawn a Hezrou when killed on Epic difficulties. This is inefficient for farming Hezrou on their own, but you may be able to combine it with farming for other creatures like wolves or goblins.

Orthon

• Sins of Attrition on Elite contains a huge number of Orthons - sometimes over a hundred in each run. This is an excellent way to farm numbers quickly.
• The raid Defiler of the Just also features orthons as common trash mobs, so this is also a good pick.

Rakshasa

• Even in quests based on them, Rakshasas are very rare, tending to spawn on their own as bosses. The only really viable options for farming them are A Cry for Help, Grim and Barett, and Subversion, and even the latter two only have a small handful. (If doing Subversion, recall once you slay the ones in the Magical Artefact Storage.)

Dwarf

• Quests heavily featuring Duergar (Relic of a Sovereign Past and Reclamation) are good ideas here, as is the raid Vault of Night, which features many Dwarven members of the Aurum Foundation.
• The lower levels of the city in House of Pain can also be a good location. After clearing the forgewraiths, skip the tavern, jump off the bridge, clear out the lower levels and then reset.

Ghast

• Ghasts are even rarer than Ghouls, but they do still appear frequently throughout The Necropolis Part One. Additionally, the wilderness in Part Four, around Inferno of the Damned, contains human warriors that turn into them - look for Flamebound Sacrificers and Infernal Warriors.
• There is also a room very early in Slave Pits of the Undercity that contains a mob of Ghasts - once this is clear, recall and reset.

 

[PurpleSerpent]

Volume 4
Mind Flayer

• Again, Mind Flayers tend to spawn on their own, but there are a few exceptions. A reasonable number appear in wave three of Sinister Storage, and they spawn as fairly common monsters in quests in the Harbinger of Madness pack, The Sane Asylum, and around the ruins of Riz Malag in the Underdark.
• Mind Flayers are also a common enemy towards the end stages of The Twilight Forge, although this point is difficult to reach without a group. (And good luck getting one…)

Lion

• Lions (and other big cats) rarely spawn in large numbers. One place to try is the variant versions of Lava Caves (not Circles of Power), where a number appear by the river.
• Another option is to farm panthers in the jungle stages of The Newcomers. Recall and reset when you reach the area with the floating platforms.

Clay Golem

• Clay Golems are surprisingly difficult to find in large numbers. Made to Order is a fairly short quest with about ten of them, or you could try the North wing of Tomb of the Wizard King which features a few on higher difficulties.

Stone Golem

• Stone Golems spawn in only a few more quests than clay golems, but luckily, Orlassk keeps large numbers of them in his service. Both Palace of Stone and The Lord of Stone include large quantities.
• Rainbow in the Dark is another viable option, although you may want to recall and reset once you reach the section with the Orthon boss fight. While there are a couple left at this point, you’ve got quite a run to get to them.

Air Elemental

• Oddly enough, I’m not going to recommend Temple of Elemental Evil’s Air Node or The Lord of Eyes here. The air elementals in Lord of Eyes are at range and hard to hit, slowing the process down considerably, and the Air Node has far less Air Elementals than any other type. Instead, I’d suggest farming the elementals on the top platforms of Flesh Maker’s Laboratory, although bring a Knockdown Immunity item if you value your sanity.

Orc

• Plenty of options here. Orcs are plentiful in both ToEE: First Level and Earth Temple and Slave Pits of the Undercity, and also appear in great volumes in the second wave of Breaking the Ranks.
• If you’re looking for a slightly shorter quest, both The Captives and (unsurprisingly) Obstructing the Orcs feature competitive quantities of orcs.

Abishai

• One of the best ways to get your Abishai count up is Defiler of the Just, which features them both as time-limited mini bosses and as regular raid trash.
• Arraetrikos is also fond of throwing Abishai around - large volumes crop up in Subversion, To Curse the Sky, and the opening rooms of Grim and Barret. The Archon and Devil fortresses in Three Paths to Battle are also good picks.

Efreet

• A number of Efreet spawn in the entrance corridor leading to the boss fight in Zawabi’s Revenge. More go on to appear throughout the fight with Lailat if someone in the party hits her with a few spells.
• The Temple of Elemental Evil has a lot of Efreet scattered around its Fire Node, one of the few places they appear as common mobs. (Stealer of Souls has this too, but I would not recommend this method - you have to run through a wilderness area and two other elemental zones to get to them, and there are far less available than Temple of Elemental Evil.)

Horned Devil

• By far the most efficient place to look for Horned Devils is Defiler of the Just, where they spawn as raid trash from the two portals in the falling archons phase. Even here, farming them is a slow process - somewhere between ten and twenty may appear on a good run.
• Lower level characters may want to try the Short Cuts variant of Kobold Island, where up to three Horned Devils may spawn by Large Extractors. They may also appear in waves towards the end if the party’s shard count is high enough - they probably should do, given how Kobold Island works, but Short Cuts is so unforgivingly difficult to get a good score in that I’ve never actually heard of anyone seeing them. (Have you? If so, do tell me, I’m interested to know.)

Mummy

• The undead zone of the Menechtarun desert, and the three tombs (of the Wizard King, Astrologer and Physician) contained within, all contain numerous mummies. The wilderness, in particular, is an excellent hunting ground.
• Alternatively, a number of mummies appear during the ascent of Calliphor’s tower in And the Dead Shall Rise… (A couple of rare mummies may hide behind secret doors on the first and third floors, and another rare mummy has a chance to appear with the end chests.)

Volume 5
Scorrow

• Scorrow are very common in the Menechtarun region. The Vulkoorim regions of the wilderness area and An Offering of Blood are two very good places to look for them.
• If in a group, you may also want to try Lava Caves: Circles of Power, which contains many scorrow when you get deeper into the tunnels, especially around the arena region.

Iron Golem

• Many Iron Golems appear scattered around the three wilderness areas included in Secrets of the Artificers. They also appear throughout both versions of The Master Artificer, and in the early stages of The Lord of Blades.
• Another option is Best Laid Plans. If running this route, smash up the warehouse until you find the ledger, fight the first set of Vaunt’s security staff, beat up the hauler golems in the hidden lab and recall before the second set arrive.

Warforged Titan

• Warforged Titans are rare, powerful, and nearly always quest or raid bosses. The one exception is the legendary version of Subversion, which includes a room near the end full of the things, including several which switch on and attack you. (On heroic, this only has a chance of happening, and even if it does less are present, so it's a less time-effective option.)
• High-level characters who don’t fancy running Subversion over and over may instead be able to farm the single respawning red-named Titan in Schemes of the Enemy. To get this to appear, set off the Security Door’s defence grid in the opening rooms and destroy all the Magefire Cannons that appear. (This approach is probably the fastest, especially if you have some way of killing the TItans automatically - a damaging aura spell, powerful summon or the like.)
• Characters at Legendary levels may be able to work some Warforged Titan kills into their gear farming runs by running Stolen Power a few times. This medium-length quest contains two Titans and also drops cards for the Deck of Many Curses, making it one of those rare quests that provides loot everyone can use. (I would not recommend this quest as your main way of filling out the manual, although I will say that these are the only Warforged Titans a free-to-play character can get to currently.)

Water Elemental

• Again, ToEE’s Water Node and The Lord of Eyes are good places to look. This time, however, it might also be worth trying A Small Problem and farming the respawning river spirits by the waterfall.

Ogre

• Ogres are very common opponents in the central hallway of ToEE: First Level and Earth Temple and the entranceway to ToEE: Lower Depths.
• Other useful possibilities include The Spawn of Whisperdoom (empty the Jungle clearing, complete the ogre fortress section, then recall), and the quests and wilderness area in the Restless Isles pack.

Gnoll

• Menechtarun is an excellent area to farm for gnolls. Two regions contain them - the Firebrand zone contains two gnoll-focused quests as well, while the three tombs in the undead zone also feature gnoll patrols in their entrances.
• Forgotten Realms fans may prefer to farm gnolls from the Netherese armies in the Storm Horns - the first wave of Breaking the Ranks is an especially good spot.

Hellcat

• Hellcats are even rarer than magical lions. The only really efficient ways to farm them are both in the Vale of Twilight pack - either run around the fiendish region around the entrance to Running with the Devils, or farm the first two phases of The Shroud.

Ice Flenser

• Ice Flensers very seldom spawn in large numbers. You may want to try Invaders!, the Xorian zone of The Subterrane, and the Extraplanar Palace challenges.
• The Demon cave in Three Paths to Battle also has a few Ice Flensers, including an optional miniboss, and can be repeated fairly quickly. The same applies to the Archon fortress in Law and Order.

Succubus

• The easiest place to farm for Succubi is in the Extraplanar Palace challenges, where they spawn as trash mobs throughout the palace. In particular, a number spawn in the three chambers where Auraxyllon may appear.
• If you’re prepared to rerun the original escort section repeatedly, the final fight of The Weapons Shipment on Elite also has quite a few succubi. Do not bother with the optional forward base if taking this approach - none spawn here.

Lich

• As one can imagine, Liches very seldom spawn except as quest bosses. However, the Epic versions of Orchard of the Macabre and Ghosts of Perdition do feature a number of them as standard monsters.

 

[PurpleSerpent]

Volume 6
Iron Defender

• Vaunt Arcanotechnic’s security forces tend to be accompanied by many Iron Defenders. Any quest in which they appear (Best Laid Plans, No Refunds, Blown Deadline, Reach for the Sky…) will have a good number throughout the quest. I’d particularly recommend Blown Deadline in this respect - ignore the side areas, and recall and reset once you reach the large room with all the levers.
• Iron Defenders are also a common sight throughout Brothers of the Forge. I wouldn’t recommend soloing this quest, though, as you’ll have to kill several red-named iron golems to get very far and those things have a mountain of hit points.
• Finally, respawning waves of Iron Defenders appear in the massive fight outside the Security Door in Schemes of the Enemy. They stop appearing when the last Magefire Cannon is destroyed.

Dragon

• Aside from a few cases where they’re rare encounters, dragons tend to be quest bosses and thus come right at the end of a (usually fairly long) quest. Five exceptions exist. One is the Storm Horns, which features numerous Netherese Arcanists which often appear with a pet Pseudodragon, and one is Vecna Denied, which has a Red Dragon in an optional section at the entrance. The other three are the Earth, Air and Fire Nodes of the Temple of Elemental Evil, which each have an optional dragon a short run from the entrance (two in the Air node, although accessing them is a little trickier.) The Water Node dragon is the final boss and thus not a good choice.

Mudman

• Numbers of Mudmen appear in the Red Fens wilderness and in the latter stages of Kobold Island: Kobold Chaos. The best option, though, is probably the Earth Node of Temple of Elemental Evil, where they are oddly more common than Earth Elementals.

Tiefling

• The Devil Assault pack is an excellent choice here. Tieflings (or creatures that count as them) appear throughout waves 1, 3, 4, and 5 of Devil Assault, and many can be found wandering the higher layers of The Chronoscope.
• Alternatively, many Tieflings appear throughout the Malefic Carnival pack. I’d recommend Under the Big Top, which is the only quest that features them constantly.

Hell Hound

• Hellhounds are common in volcanic areas and/or fiend focused packs. Good locations include the Fire Node in the Temple of Elemental Evil, Kobold Island: Short Cuts, and Fire on Thunder Peak, which features them as respawning trash.

Bearded Devil

• Barbazu are particularly common opponents in the quests in the Devil Battlefield, where they are demoted from “common miniboss” to “standard monster.” Sins of Attrition on Elite is an especially good choice as it features huge numbers of them (as an added bonus, you can increase your Orthon count at the same time!)
• The Devils to Pay is a very short quest with 20 or 30 Bearded Devils in total. For maximum efficiency, run it on Heroic Elite and take the side door entrance.

Flesh Render

• The Hound of Xoriat begins throwing waves of Flesh Renders at you from the very beginning of the quest. If you can take some attention from Xy’zzy (not too difficult at epic levels as long as you can self-heal and your Balance is reasonable), this is a very efficient way to farm them.
• The Rescue, in the Ruins of Threnal pack, is a fairly short quest that features about 40 Flesh Renders. Remember not to kill the named Ice Flenser, though, or you’ll have to rerun a three-quest chain to get back to it.

Quori

• Quori are rare, but when they appear, they tend to appear in numbers. The Dreaming Dark, I Dream of Jeets, Eye of the Titan and Beautiful Nightmares are all good options.

Yugoloth

• Yugoloth are very rare indeed, so there’s really only one place it’s worth bothering to farm for them - Extraplanar Palace. Make sure to bring at least a hireling to get the spawn numbers up.

Shadow

• As one might expect from a quest chain where every quest has “shadow” in the name, The Necropolis Part Two features shadows heavily. Any of the quests is a good choice (with the possible exception of Tomb of the Shadow Guard, which is mostly underwater and doesn’t have many enemies in general.)
• Shadows are also very common in the Shadowfell (who’d have guessed?), meaning quests in the Shadowfell Conspiracy expansion (especially Wheloon Prison) and Temple of the Deathwyrm also include many of them. Temple of the Deathwyrm and Rest Stop are standout locations as both feature respawning Shadows (throughout Deathwyrm and at Rest Stop's final boss fight.)

Volume 7
Yuan-ti

• Yuan-ti don’t appear in many places, but most of the ones they do feature many of them. I’d recommend Old Tomb, New Tenants or Don’t Drink the Water, although you could also try their own area of the Underdark (use the Riz Malag portal and go northeast.)

Werewolf

• Werewolves can be found wandering the Ghosts of Perdition area of the Epic Orchard of the Macabre in great numbers. (Don’t bother with the quest itself, they don’t spawn there.)
• For those seeking a slightly lower level alternative, try Murder by Night in Eveningstar. The process is rather slower there, though, as you’ll have to recall more often.

Drow

• I’m not even going to bother offering multiple alternatives here - there is only one place you should even try to farm Drow. The King’s Forest features a rare encounter called A Grim Disturbance which, as long as you keep a red-named boss alive, spawns an infinite number of Drow at great speeds. As an added bonus, because this is also an efficient way to level up characters in low epics, this is about the only time you’ll be able to join a group specifically for the purpose of farming for the Monster Manual!

Bear

• Bears appear to be far less common than whoever created this monster manual entry was expecting. The only places that include them in any farmable numbers are the forested regions of the Borderlands and Thorn and Paw. I would recommend running the latter.

Drider

• Driders spawn in many places throughout the Forgotten Realms, but they tend to do so in low numbers. Their volumes are highest in the Demonweb and the quests set within, especially Caught in the Web. (As an added bonus, a number spawn in the opening stages, so even if you can’t solo the Lolth fight you can still make good progress.)

Dretch

• Lord Grulemith seems to be very fond of Dretches, for some unfathomable reason. Trial by Fury features large swarms of them in the opening stages.
• The only quest which features respawning Dretches is Memory Lapse. Get a group together and have each member stationed in front of one of the bookcases. These will spawn a mob of monsters about once every fifteen seconds, which tends to include at least one dretch.
• The Demon cave in Three Paths to Battle features Dretches as well; the number available isn’t a patch on Trial by Fury, but in return this quest is much easier to navigate.
• Finally, Dretches appear in several quests in Vecna Unleashed, with the lowest floor of Vecna Unleashed and the entirety of Law and Order as standout locations.

Draegloth

• Again, Draegloth are tricky to farm for. Reclaiming the Rift is your best shot as a number appear in later waves, although you could also try Trial by Fury.

Glabrezu

• This must be the most unrealistic Slayer target in the Monster Manual. Glabrezu spawn in extremely few places, and they’re almost always quest bosses or rare encounters in large areas. The most time-efficient method is farming the red-named Glabrezu that spawns in The Archbishop's Fate (on Epic only) when Gerard Dryden takes damage - but be careful! If Gerard himself dies, you'll have to rerun the whole chain to get back here.
• Other than this, the best I can offer are three single Glabrezu that you can reach relatively quickly: Vixorshal the Deceiver, a guaranteed spawn on the Isle of Dread, Glaebror, the boss of the Demon fortress in Three Paths to Battle, or Vanthoss, an optional boss in the Abyss portal in Turn the Page. Even so, you will need to recall and reset from any of these quests over one thousand times. Good luck!

Monstrous Plant

• Quests with many Red Musk Zombies are a good option here. In particular, Red Musk Zombies are very common in Outbreak and Thralls of the Fungus Lord.
• Another option is the Feywild, which has three suitable quests (A Frosty Reception, The Lost Keepsake, and Combatting Corruption) and also has many Monstrous Plants in the forest and swamp zones of its wilderness area - Blights, Wood Woads and Shambling Mounds all count.
• A large number of plant creatures also dwell in and around the giant tree in Growing Pains.
• Finally, although the numbers aren't as large as the aforementioned locations, the forest section of Fred's First Date is the only quest in the game to feature respawning monstrous plants.

Purple Worm

• Purple Worms are rare, but the slayer requirement for them is so low that you can farm for them practically anywhere they appear. By far the best way, though, is In the Belly of the Beast. Unlock the Riz Malag portal to get there quickly, and make sure to recall and reset once Sineater eats you - while Sineater itself also counts, killing it finishes the quest, and you’ll have to run back to Eveningstar to reset it.

 

[PurpleSerpent]

Volume 8
Griffon

• Griffons are generally fairly rare. You could farm for them in Temple of Elemental Evil’s Air Node or the Amphitheatre in Quid Pro Quo, but your best option is probably one of two wilderness areas - either the Storm Horns, in the mountain sections, or the Isle of Dread, around the rocky areas. (For the latter area, the sunken ship and Furpaw’s spawn point always spawn several.)

Satyr

• Small groups of Satyrs can be found in the Feywild and Storm Horns wildernesses. This is probably your best option for farming them - they appear in quests, but tend to be quite far in or only present in small numbers. (If determined to do a quest, try the Rebel Hideout section of Quid Pro Quo.)

Goblin

• Goblins are most commonly found in the Borderlands around plains and forest areas and the Caves of Chaos. They also appear in groups in the quests Caged Beast and The Hobgoblin Horde.
• The Daask gang also use a number of goblins in their Masterminds of Sharn appearances. In particular, there are many of them in the temple in Ruinous Schemes - recall once you’ve cleared the portal room.

Animated Object

• Two standout locations here - Wheloon Prison, which features Telekinetic Wards that animate multiple nearby breakables, and Palace of Stone, which features respawning boulders that count as Animated Objects and kill themselves automatically when they crash into a wall. Alternatively, you could try Good Intentions (nearly everything here is an animated object), or Party 101, which is a very short quest with about 20 on Elite.

Living Spell

• Living Spells exist in seven quests, but in two - The Curse of Strahd and Tower of Frost - they appear in very small numbers near the end, and the ones in Killing Time don’t even count as entries. The fourth, Legendary Chronoscope, features slowly respawning ones in Razor Arm's boss fight. Good luck to you if you're trying to farm those. The practical options are the very slowly respawning ones in Enter the Kobold, the ten or so in the first half of The Bark and the Blade, and the fifteen or so scattered around the first room of the Subterrane. Of the three, I’d recommend the Subterrane - The Bark and the Blade is more work for less reward, and the respawning ones in Enter the Kobold take ages to appear.

Gnome

• It’s essentially the Feywild or nothing here - gnomes spawn in tiny numbers in some of the quests, but really you’re going to want to farm the small groups around the wilderness. Stay near the entrance to Wynwood Hall - they stop spawning east of about Cascading Springs Cottage.
• Failing this, Dannis Derpenshire’s area in Eye Know Whodunnit also has a few gnomes, although this is really a desperate measure.

Harpy

• Harpies spawn in large numbers in the Storm Horns, but unfortunately these don’t seem to count, so you’re going to want to head to Search and Rescue, where a small flock spawn right outside the entrance to the tomb. Bring a ranged weapon, snipe them from the entrance, then leave by the front door.

Marilith

• At time of writing, five out of eight existing Mariliths are bosses of raids or long quests. The sixth is an optional boss in an equally long quest. Therefore, you have two options here. One is Devashta in the Extraplanar Palaces - she spawns when you reach your quota, so you can set up a couple of torches, wait a couple of minutes, then kill her and reset. Otherwise, you can farm the Invading Marilith Commander in the Devil fortress of Law and Order. (You could also try running Zawabi’s Revenge every few days to break up the monotony.)

Forgewraith

• The slayer target for forgewraiths is fairly low, so any quest which features them as standard monsters (Best Laid Plans, Reach for the Sky, Security Detail…) will work pretty well, as will the Cogs itself if you farm the Destroyed Forge area. If you know Sunburst, however, your best shot is definitely Too Hot to Handle, which features respawning ones - the number you can rack up here is limited only by how long you can survive the increasing fire and acid damage. (Bear in mind, though, that Too Hot to Handle is hard, so some form of self-healing is necessary - this said, an average PUG will take out about 50 even on a quick Normal run, so you may just be able to join some public groups.)

Wight

• Although they feature many of them, I’d argue that the quests in The Necropolis Part One, while a good choice, are not the most efficient way of farming wights. In my opinion, the quest you want to run - and I can’t believe I’m saying this - is Tomb of the Tormented.
  
  Tomb of the Tormented has about 15-20 wights hidden in sarcophagi in the room you spawn in. Once in, you can smash all the breakables in the room, kill everything, and then run straight out of the front door again without having to run any of the quest or even wait for the recall timer.
  
  (I can’t say I’d ever expected to recommend running Tomb of the Tormented, but here we are.)

Volume 9
Mimic

• Most mimics in the game spawn one at a time, which is naturally awkward for farming purposes. Three exceptions exist - Needle in a Fey Stack, Desire in the Dark and Subversion all feature multiple mimics. Subversion is less convenient than the others, as the room with the mimics is quite far into the quest.
• The Mimics from the Mimic Hunt event also count here - while this is ongoing mimics may replace nearly any chest in the game.

Hyena

• You’re almost certainly going to want to head to Menechtarun for this one - both of the best farm locations, Desert Caravan and the gnoll area of Sands of Menechtarun, are here. Failing this, small groups of Hyenas can be found in the first few sections of Seizing the Dawn and the area around Goregra’s spawn zone in Ataraxia’s Haven.

Owlbear

• The only vaguely time-efficient options for Owlbear farming are the forested regions of two wilderness adventure areas - The Storm Horns and the Feywild. If neither of these regions are an option, a couple of Owlbears appear around the forested edges of Wrath of the Earth and in nearby areas of the Land of Barovia.

Raven

• Flocks of Ravens appear in several places - primarily, these are the Feywild, near the start of The Knight Who Cried Windmill, Saltmarsh, and The Home of Memory.

Magefire Cannon

• Both of the best farming locations for Magefire Cannons, fittingly, are in Secrets of the Artificers. These are Schemes of the Enemy (in the big fight around the Cannith Security Door) and the Heroic and Legendary versions of The Master Artificer. The Artificer Workshops themselves also contain a fair number.
• As an alternative, Order in the Court has several Magefire Cannons throughout Worthridge’s apartment. There are also many Magefire Cannons in the underground workshop in Best Laid Plans.

Fire Giant

• Plenty of options here! Good locations include Tempest’s Spine, the Epic version of The Ruins of Gianthold, and both versions of Gianthold Tor (recall and reset after clearing the gatehouses.)
• One of DDO's most obscure quests - The Giant's Lieutenants, a zero-favor walkup in the Ruins of Threnal - has about 10 Fire Giants in and takes only a few minutes to run. This is a good location to clean up on rewards, although probably not efficient for farming the full entry.

Eladrin

• Aside from a single miniboss from Thelanis, Eladrin only live in the Feywild, so you’re going to need to head to one of the quests there. Make Believe, Quid Pro Quo and the Feywild wilderness itself all work nicely, as do any of the quests in Hunter and Hunted - of the set, One Dame Thing After Another is probably fastest.
• (For the record, Eladrin were introduced as Celestials in D&D's 3rd Edition, then were changed to a type of Fey in 4th Edition, a change that has since stuck for the 5th Edition version. Although most of the Eladrin in the game were added in or after Fables of the Feywild and use the 5E version (known as Feywild Eladrin on the DDO Wiki), a few of the 3.5E Celestial versions are still found in the game. These are called Ghaele and Bralani Eladrin, and can be found in Running in the Devils, the Kobold Island challenges, and a couple of Summon Monster spells. Critically, they do not count for the Eladrin Monster Manual, nor are they ever likely to.)

Fire Reaver

• Fire Reavers spawn in many places, but not very often in numbers. This is awkward, as you need a lot of them. There are a few locations where they spawn as common foes though, including Purge the Fallen Shrine, The Subterrane - East, any Extraplanar Palace challenge, Demon Assault and the Demon cave in Three Paths to Battle.

Quell

• Quells are not especially common monsters, but several quests have them in numbers. These include the epic versions of Desecrated Temple of Vol and Ghosts of Perdition, the Glass Plains area of The Bark and the Blade, and the crypt section of Search and Rescue - recall once you slay the mummy if doing the latter option.

Wheep

• Wheeps are about as rare as Quells. Handily enough, though, their ideal farm locations are pretty much the same, except for The Bark and the Blade. Wheeps do have one more good farm location without any Quells in - they respawn in The Fall of Truth while the Disciple of Silence is still alive.

 

[PurpleSerpent]

(This post saved for future volumes...)

 

[Stoner81]

That one hell of a write up! I can't imagine the amount of time it has taken to make but thank you!

Stoner81.

 

[dur]

Indeed. Thanks for taking the time to share!

 

[Titus Ovid]

Hey all,
this thread by Nemesislaien on the old forum is a great source of information, too.

Thx for compiling this, Purple!

Cheers,
Titus

 

[l_remmie]

Most of the entries you will get naturally over time farming them is a bit of a waste. It should be clear soon enough if you look at your progress which those are. The slower ones are mostly undead and outsiders.

 

[seph1roth5]

Nice writeup. One thing that would be nice to note is which are worth good XP, since those are the ones that will pop up each time you recincarnate. I know abishai and shadow get pretty beefy, and obviously the common ones like human won't be worth much (maybe if you get really high?).

I feel like there was another race's MM my group hit randomly a few lives ago and were surprised how much XP it was. We don't vary our quests run that much each reincarnation so we don't hit new MM stuff much. Few suggestions:

Rats - Necro 4 heroic wilderness. The rat rare on the way to fleshmaker's is like 50 rats.

Warforged - While they respawn in von5's puzzle, that's pretty slow. I think you'd be better off just running von4 multiple times each life.

Abishai - Grim and Barret is fast and has lots of abishai, and is a good xp quest on top of it!

Mummy - Wiz King has multiple mummies in each tower, and like grim, is a great quest in general. If you don't need MM filled ASAP, I'd recommend getting a lot of mummies done in epic, doing wiz king, grim, etc as dailies.

WF Titan - Pretty sure they can spawn in heroic subversion too, it's just random if you get them or the pile of normal goons. Still probably the best spawn point if you don't want to roam amrath wilderness. And another daily quest.

Eladrin - Do the ones in Running with Devils not count?

 

[PurpleSerpent]

Nice writeup. One thing that would be nice to note is which are worth good XP, since those are the ones that will pop up each time you recincarnate. I know abishai and shadow get pretty beefy, and obviously the common ones like human won't be worth much (maybe if you get really high?).

I feel like there was another race's MM my group hit randomly a few lives ago and were surprised how much XP it was. We don't vary our quests run that much each reincarnation so we don't hit new MM stuff much. Few suggestions:

Thank you for this! I've written this guide from the perspective of somebody trying to fill out MM volumes, not necessarily farming for XP, and there are better guides to XP farming out there already, so that wasn't really one of my considerations, but there are a few places here I've added to the guide.

Now that you mention it, I haven't checked the Running with the Devils Eladrin, although my suspicion is they don't count because the MM entry appears to have been writted entirely about the Feywild version. I'll check up on this later.

 

[seph1roth5]

That makes sense. I was just thinking that since most people are on a reincarnation train, they could kill 2 birds with one stone.

 

[PurpleSerpent]

That makes sense. I was just thinking that since most people are on a reincarnation train, they could kill 2 birds with one stone.

Understood. A few locations on here line up with that quite nicely, but a lot of monster manual categories can't easily be worked into the TR train.

Incidentally, Ghaele and Bralani Eladrin don't count for the Eladrin MM, including the Benevolent Archon in Kobold Island.

 

[Yamani]

Fire Giant

• Plenty of options here! Good locations include Tempest’s Spine, the Epic version of The Ruins of Gianthold, and both versions of Gianthold Tor (recall and reset after clearing the gatehouses.)

Just going to give another farm location that's quite overlooked but: Threnal: The Giant Lieutenants, its a 1-2 minute side-quest with something like 10 fire giants. No need to wait on respawns in tor here.

 

[PurpleSerpent]

Just going to give another farm location that's quite overlooked but: Threnal: The Giant Lieutenants, its a 1-2 minute side-quest with something like 10 fire giants. No need to wait on respawns in tor here.

True enough! I've added this as something of a secondary suggestion, as even though the rate is fairly good, rerunning the quest 240 times is probably going to get a bit stale.

 

[WargamerIV]

One way to farm Glabrezu is to flag for Endgame The Archbishop's Fate (catacombs) then run the quest on epic, but don't actually finish the quest. Reset the quest and run again. That is how I finished Glabrezu.

 

[PurpleSerpent]

One way to farm Glabrezu is to flag for Endgame The Archbishop's Fate (catacombs) then run the quest on epic, but don't actually finish the quest. Reset the quest and run again. That is how I finished Glabrezu.

That was in the original guide, but I opted to leave it out because the Glabrezu section was getting very long. On second thoughts, though, it is the most time-efficient way to do things (it slightly beats out Vixorshal) even if you do have to be careful with DPS on the Flameskull, so I've redrafted the page to put it back in.

 

[The Blonde]

Amazing work!

 

[Grunndi]

Very nice write up.

For Horned Devil’s I’d rank Short Cuts well above DoJ. If you have at least 3 (I think, it’s been a while lol) in party you get 2 “bosses” per big extractor so up to 6 per run. 3 capped toons can run and clear bosses in under a minute. Grab the trash chests if you feel like it. Reset and repeat.

This is how me and a couple guildies got our Horned Devil mastery in a hurry for pushing LVoD, very useful for knowing exactly when each phase triggers.