Of all the ingredients required to craft the Staff of Herding (needed for reaching Whimsyshire), the Gibbering Gemstone is by far the most difficult one to acquire. For this reason, I decided to create a guide to aid you in your quest to obtain it.
Why is the Gibbering gemstone so hard to acquire?
The Gibbering Gemstone drops from a rare mob in a rare spawn cave. When you make a new game, there is no guarantee that the cave will be spawned. In addition, the cave can spawn in one of 6 locations. Lastly, when you do find the cave, there is no guarantee that it will contain the rare mob who drops the gem. So grab some snacks and a beverage of choice…because finding the Gibbering Gemstone can take awhile.
Guide to Finding the Caverns of Frost & the Gibbering Gemstone
Step 1: Create a New Game
You’ll want to select Act III: Siegebreaker
Select the Siegebreaker Quest to put you near the Caverns of Frost
Step 2: Bridge of Korsikk Waypoint
Head to the waypoint in Bastion’s Keep Stronghold and select the Bridge of Korsikk waypoint.
Take the Bridge of Korsikk waypoint to reach the Caverns of Frost
Step 3: Search for Caverns of Frost
From the waypoint, you’ll want to head north or east to start looking for the Caverns of Frost.
The Caverns of Frost is a rare spawn cave in the Fields of Slaughter, which means it won’t always be available. It’s a shared spawn with the Icefall Caves – so if you happen to see the Icefall Caves – exit out of your game and try again.
Caves can spawn in 6 locations throughout the Fields of Slaughter, but I’ve only seen the Caverns of Frost in 4 of these locations — all but the two northernmost spawns.
Update: 06/01/12 — All six spawn locations are now confirmed. CoF can spawn in any one of 6 places throughout the Fields of Slaughter.
Caverns of Frost Spawn Locations Map
Here are the locations for the Caverns of Frost
The Fields of Slaughter contains a surplus of many of the most annoying mobs in Diablo 3 – for melee anyway. Casters will likely have it a bit easier, but for melee players it can get annoying real fast. There are more than a few mobs in this area with movement impairing effects – most notably knockback – which can really get frustrating when all you’re trying to do is find this stinkin’ cave.
Also, due to the sheer number of mobs in Fields of Slaughter, you can only effectively avoid them for so long before you eventually get caught in a lovely chain knockback party.
Watch out for those pesky Blood Clan Warriors
For this reason, some players may not want to search all the locations. The spawn just north of the waypoint is an easy one to check – so you can check that spot and remake your game, as needed, until you get the Caverns of Frost. However, there are quite a few rares in the area, so if you’re a glutton for punishment, like me, then just search until you find it. I actually had a Legendary drop on one of my runs through Fields of Slaughter. 
Step 4: Enter the Caverns of Frost and Kill Chiltara
When you locate the Caverns of Frost, head on in and start looking for the entrance to level 2. This is where the mob will be that drops the Gibbering Gemstone.
Head to caverns of Frost Level 2 and hope for Chiltara
Chiltara is a rare spawn mob, so she may not always be in there. If Chiltara is in fact waiting for you, then go ahead and mug her.
Kill Chiltara for the gemstone
As far as I know, the drop rate for the Gibbering Gemstone is 100%.
BAM!…Gibbering Gemstone…Sweet!
If you get this far, then congratulations! You’re well on your way to crafting a Staff of Herding.
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
I can confirm that the Caverns of Frost can spawn in the northernmost point
Awesome. Thanks. I’ll take your word for it & update the map.
I can confirm that it can spawn in the second northmost one. So in fact it can spawn everywhere.
Can confirm the spawn point tagged Unconfirmed. I believe I’ve had it two times now.
Can also confirm the unconfirmed.
I can confirm the randomness of this spawn. I found my Cavern of Frost spawn with the rare in the southeast location.
I farmed the 3 west sdie locations about 100 times, and after reading this I went and tried the southeast cave. Chilltara was at the end waiting for me with the Gibbering Gemstone. Thx
WOW this takes forever, not joking i have searched for chiltara with no luck in over 100 caverns of frosts in the past 3 days ever since i discovered the stupid unicorn level (cow level kicked ass, unicorn level is gay). Thanks for waisting several hours of my time bliz and turning one of the best parts of d2 in to something a child predator would use to lure little children into his rape van.
Well said bro
I’ve been trying to get “liquid Rainbow” and “Gibbering Gemstone” for 3 days now..
With the liquid rainbow.. Never once seen the guy that opens the cave, not even once..and i spent over 12 hours in total looking for only him, its beyond bad luck.. its just stupid.
Found the frost cavern many times, but never once seen the mob I’m supposed to kill. 100 tryes without luck.
A strange feeling of evil has risen within me, I want to hurt something or destroy something beautiful to rationalize my bad luck in getting these crap items.
Yea kinda got all the items now.. thanks for this guide its golden!!
Dude! For real?! It took me only ~4 hours to get all the things for the staff. Already had the liquid rainbow but didn’t had the rest.
This guide lacks one detail. There are two caves that spawn in the Fields of Slaughter: Caverns of Frost low chance of finding Chiltara in here and Ice Fall Caves much better chance to get Chiltara and you also get a gold chest! It took me 4 runs to get the gem! First 3 runs I got Caverns of Frost and no Chiltara. Last round I got Ice Fall Caverns so i found Chiltara and the gem!
Some say that if you get Caverns of Frost you can already leave game and restart until you get Ice Fall Caves. Hope this helps!
I just got the gemstone, now all I need is the plan and gold.
Here’s a few things that sped up the process of hunting for the Gibbering Gemstone – each one being an “Aha!” moment hours into farming (and maybe I’m a newb for not knowing, but if there’s one, there’s a thousand):
1. You don’t have to re-select the quest to reset everything. Just leave game, then click “Resume Game.” Not only does this save you some time at the main menu, it also saves you the trouble of having to use the waypoint every time, because it just starts you right where you need to be. The spawns are still random, and it probably cut an hour or two of menu-hopping over a couple of days.
2. Level 2 of the Caverns of Frost only spawns a random yellow mob OR Chiltara. Which means, if you see a yellow mob right at the beginning of Level 2, one-shot it, and leave game – no use exploring the rest of the cave.
3. (And this is pretty obvious) When you’re running around in the field kiting about a thousand mobs, and you find your 100th Icefall Caves, it’s quicker to run in and leave game than it is to kill everything and leave game. Not only is the knockback a pain in the ass, but if you’ve made a full loop around the map, you’ve collected enough lag to stop a train. Combine that with your level 35 monk that hasn’t been auction-housed to the teeth, and a bunch of those worm guys that AOE the ground all around you, and you will die. And your newly-purchased gaming mouse will fly across the room, before you’ve even had a chance to unplug the USB cable.
Hope that helps someone. Good luck searching and have fun in Happyland.
#2 is not true. I just found Chiltara and then found a yellow boss further down the cave.
also confirmed that this is not true, I killed a yellow spawn, a blue spawn, and chiltara in the same lvl 2 caverns of frost
Wow. i got it first time. Nice guide
“Wow. i got it first time.” = Punch to throat.
Got Chiltara today after about 8 hours of trying ( Flash back to EQ) just to confirm there was a yellow named on 2nd level and Chiltara was by the stone to exit.
I have been trying for 2 hours and still no luck on finding Chiltara
I find the cave about every time I just can’t ever find this mob. Oh well.. back to trying!
P.S – This is the last piece i need for my staff to
Thanks for the info – took 8 hours to find Chiltara but was able to sell items enough over the 8 hours to make the 150k gold needed for the bell and render.
Interesting point: If you complete the quest objectives to destroy the Ballistae and the Trebuchet during one of your loops, then exit and Resume Game, the destroyed Ballistae will then show as craters on your map the moment you enter the Fields of Slaughter. Since the Caverns of Frost / Icefall Caves share a spawn with the Ballistae, this removes 3 searching spots from your future runs! Hope that helps.
I wish I had read the comments about the Icefall Caves. However, I got the gemstone off a Lacuni type mob in the Caverns of Frost. I don’t remember his name, but it was not Chiltara. This may be a change since 1.03 or simply something that’s always been possible but rare.
i spend 4 hours!! 4 fcking hours to find this fcking boss
Maybe I’m the luckiest ever, but I found all four pieces for this staff with practically no effort. This was the last I needed, and Chiltara spawned on my second visit to the cave.
I was trying for about and hour. I red above about the south east cave. After 3 restarts, I found the cave in the southeast. Bingo. So I think you can save a lot of time by only going for the southeast cave.
Totally just found one one my first run of the game and went to check what it was! xD
Do you need to be in inferno mode to find chiltara?
never mind. found it… did it on hell mode. as soon as i entered lvl2 chilara was just chillin’ there
Can you find it in normal mode? does it have to be caverns of frost or can i use icefall caves?
Nevermind found it. . .it is in the south east corner spawn
do i need the mats for the staff of herding to upgrade to different lvl nightmare hell etc. to be able to go them in the higher lvls, if not where in the lvls can i access the cow lvls.