Energie Cottbus relegated
The reverse, combined with Borussia Moenchengladbach's 3-0 home win over Hansa Rostock confirmed relegation for Eduard Geyer's (pictured) men.
Goals from Shao Jiyai (5), Markus Schroth (34) and Thomas Hassler were enough to hand 1860 a comfortable victory.
Monchengladbach gave themselves renewed hope of avoiding the drop after their win, opening up a four-point gap over nearest rivals Bayer Leverkusen.
Igor Demo opened the scoring for Borussia eight minutes before the break, and on-loan Chelsea star Mikael Forssell settled the hosts nerves with a second on 65 minutes.
Morten Skoubo put the result beyond doubt with a third 13 minutes from time.
Leverkusen edged closer to the relegation trapdoor after their 4-1 drubbing at Hamburg.
Sergio Barbarez put Hamburg on their way after 18 minutes, but both sides were reduced to ten men nine minutes after the interval when Tomas Ujfalusi and Bernd Schneider were dismissed after a clash.
Bernardo Romeo grabbed a second for the hosts before Hanno Balitsch briefly gave Leverkusen hope with two minutes left on the clock.
However, further Hamburg strikes in injury-time from Erik Meijer and Lars Jacobsen killed off any hopes of a fightback.
Champions Bayern Munich emphasized their domestic superiority with a crushing 6-3 victory at Europe-chasing Hertha Berlin.
The Bavarian giants actually fell behind on five minutes through a Michael Ballack own-goal, but a three-goal blitz in four minutes midway through the first-half turned the game on its head.
Giovane Elber (19) and a brace from Claudio Pizarro (22, 23) put Bayern in control, and the Brazilian international then went on to wrap up a hat-trick before half-time with strikes after 39 and 45 minutes.
Marcelinho converted a penalty on the hour mark to reduce the arrears, while Ballack atoned for his earlier blunder by notching Bayern's sixth with two minutes remaining, though Marcelinho had the last word with his second on the stroke of full time.
Borussia Dortmund edged ahead of Stuttgart into second place courtesy of their 4-1 home thrashing of relegation threatened Nurnberg.
A Lars Ricken brace (28, 55) and further efforts from Guiseppe Reina and Jan Koller put Mattias Sammer's men on easy street, before Sasa Ciric notched a late consolation for Nurnberg.
Stuttgart lost ground in the chase for second spot after slipping to a disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Werder Bremen with Rui Manuel Marques' own goal on 51 minutes settling matters.
Mid-table rivals Wolfsburg and Kaiserslautern played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at the VW-Arena.
Ciriaco Sforza (5) and Michael Mifsud (69) netted for The Red Devils whilst Tomislav Maric (19, 57) grabbed a double for the hosts.
Click below for match summaries
1860 Munich 3-0 Energie Cottbus
Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Nurnberg
Borussia M'gladbach 3-0 Hansa Rostock
Hamburg 4-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Hertha Berlin 3-6 Bayern Munich
Stuttgart 0-1 Werder Bremen
Wolfsburg 2-2 Kaiserslautern
Click here for updated Bundesliga table
