Coldworm the Burrower is giant Sand Maggot that is always located on the third level of the Maggot Lair, assuming the top of the map is North, her room will always be connected to a tunnel heading North-East. While Coldworm the Burrower is always located in the same room as the chest holding the Shaft of the Horadric Staff, players can just skip her since she’s not a quest monster herself.
Full Stats: Coldworm the Burrower
Type: Sand Maggot Queen
Special Attributes: Cold Enchanted, Magic Resistant
Found in: Maggot’s Lair Level 3
Quest: Killing Coldworm is not necessary to complete the Horadric Staff quest, but she’s found right in the room with the glowing chest, so it’s hard to pass her by.
Comments: Coldworm is a giant, swollen maggot with a lovely, screeching, poison-spewing death animation. She spawns new full size maggots once characters approach close enough to activate her, and during long battles her reproductive prowess can grow quite wearisome. She is motionless and has no attacks of any kind, other than the cold and poison she spews upon death. It can be amusing to see her with random modifiers like Extra Fast and Extra Strong when she neither moves nor attacks, but her modifiers are shared with her minions, and that can make a difference in the battle.
Coldworm the Burrower herself does not threaten the player in any way whatsoever while she’s alive, but since she is Cold Enchanted the frost nova from her death will poison players and hirelings for massive amounts of poison damage over a long duration. She will begin to spawn Sand Maggots when approached. Players will want to use the entrance as a bottleneck to dispatch the monsters as they trickle through. For a melee player, it is not a bad thought to bring an extra Antidote or 2 to counter her amazingly long poison.
Special Abilities
| Coldworm the Burrower | Difficulty | Health | Resistances | Drain Effectiveness | Locations (Monster Level) | Preset Attributes | Highest Rune Drop | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | F | L | M | Phy | Psn | ||||||||||
|
Normal | 228 – 372 | 115 | 40 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | Maggot Lair (14) | Cold Enchanted Magic Resistant |
Nef (4) | |||
| Nightmare | 5,721 – 7,020 | 115 | 40 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75% | Maggot Lair (49) | Lem (20) | |||||
| Hell | 25,176 – 30,898 | 115 | 40 | 40 | 0 | 50 | 120 | 50% | Maggot Lair (88) | Zod (33) | |||||