New World Gathering Guide

Image: Amazon Games via HGG / Joel Stadler

Human Made

Penned by Joel Stadler

I have loved video games before I even knew what they were. I also love writing (am working on becoming a successful fantasy author), anime, tablet... Read more

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

New World is an MMO that makes item and equipment crafting its core gameplay mechanic. You can buy items from your faction representative or other players at the trade posts, but those items can be expensive or in short supply — in short, you’ll need to make pretty much everything yourself.

To do that, you’ll need to acquire lots of resources. In this guide, we’ll give you an in-depth look at resource gathering in New World and have you mining platinum before you know it.

Let’s get started!

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The Start of the Game

When you first begin your adventure in New World, there’s one resource you’ll need more than any other — flint. The game gives you a sword and shield to start with, but all the first weapons and tools you’ll craft will be of the flint variety. You’ll want a lot of it pretty early on.

Luckily, it’s pretty easy to find. These little brown stones are strewn all over the ground and require no gathering skills to acquire.

Tools for Gathering Resources

Aside from flint, there are very few resources in the game that don’t require specific skills and tools to gather. There are five gathering tools you’ll need in New World:

• A fishing pole to catch fish.
• A sickle to harvest plants.
• An axe to chop down trees.
• A pickaxe to mine minerals.
• A knife to skin animals.

You’ll need to craft each individual tool at a workshop. The basic version of each tool is the flint version, and you can craft these right away. However, if you want to craft better versions of your tools (such as iron or steel), you’ll need to increase your engineering skill accordingly.

New World Gathering Guide: Resource Basics

How do you gather resources in New World? If you have the right tool equipped, you simply go up to the resource and press E to begin gathering. For skinning, you need to first kill the animal you wish to skin or be lucky enough to come across a corpse someone else killed. But just like items and equipment, resources come in different tiers and will require a certain level in the relevant gathering skill to acquire.

New World Gathering Guide: Skills

There are a total of five gathering skills in New World.

• Fishing
• Harvesting
• Logging
• Mining
• Skinning

To increase a gathering skill, you simply need to gather resources of that type. Chopping wood increases Logging, mining stone increases Mining, etc. If you attempt to gather a resource that is too high for your current skill level, a notice will appear next to the resource to let you know what gathering level you need in order to acquire it.

Below is a list of each gathering skill’s resources, as well as the respective skill levels you’ll need to gather and track said resources.

Fishing

Fishing in New World is more complicated than the other four gathering skills. Not only that, but catching fish is not necessary for most facets of New World gameplay. For these reasons, we’ll cover Fishing in its own separate guide at some point in the future.

Harvesting

• Farm Plants require a Harvesting skill of 0 to harvest and 20 to track.
• Hemp requires a Harvesting skill of 0 to harvest and 20 to track.
• Herbs require a Harvesting skill of 0 to harvest and 175 to track.
• Magical Creatures require a Harvesting skill of 0 to harvest and 175 to track.
• Fungi require a Harvesting skill of 0 to harvest and cannot be tracked.
• Prismabloom require a Harvesting skill of 0 to harvest and cannot be tracked.
• Magical Plants require a Harvesting skill of 30 to harvest and 45 to track.
• Silkweed requires a Harvesting skill of 100 to harvest and 125 to track.
• Wirefiber requires a Harvesting skill of 175 to harvest and 200 to track.

Logging

• Young trees require a Logging skill of 0 to cut down and cannot be tracked.
• Mature trees require a Logging skill of 50 to cut down and cannot be tracked.
• Wyrwood trees require a :ogging skill of 100 to cut down and 125 to track.
• Iron wood trees require a Logging skill of 175 to cut down and 200 to track.

Mining

• Stone requires a Mining skill of 0 to mine and cannot be tracked.
• Iron ore requires a Mining skill of 0 to mine and 25 to track.
• Silver ore requires a Mining skill of 10 to mine and 35 to track
• Oil requires a Mining skill of 25 to mine and 45 to track.
• Gold ore requires a Mining skill of 45 to mine and 70 to track
• Starmetal ore requires a Mining skill of 100 to mine and 125 to track.
• Loadstone requires a Mining skill of 105 to mine and 155 to track.
• Platinum ore requires a Mining skill of 110 to mine and 135 to track.
• Orichalcum ore requires a Mining skill of 175 to mine and 200 to track.

Skinning

• Small prey (rabbits, turkeys, peacocks and hares) require a Skinning skill of 25 to track.
• Medium prey (pigs, boars, cows, goats, and sheep) require a Skinning level of 50 to track.
• Large prey (bison and elk) require a Skinning level of 75 to track.
• Small predators (wolves, pumas, leopards, lynx, lions, and tigers) require a Skinning level of 125 to track.
• Large predators (bears and alligators) require a Skinning level of 175 to track.

Special Resources

Below is a list of crafting resources that cannot be gathered and are instead found in Supply Crates and Ancient Chests.

Important Resources

Now that you know how to gather, what resources should you gather? You’ll need pretty much all of them at some point, and it’s up to you to prioritize gathering based on your current crafting needs. There are a ton of resources related to the five gathering skills, but there are a few that you’ll need most of the time.

Flint

You’ll outgrow your flint equipment and tools in favor of the iron variety pretty quickly, but you’ll still need flint and greenwood to set up campsites. Since these are your respawn points in the overworld, it’s always good to have some on hand.

Wood

Wood is a resource that has many uses. Young trees and bushes will give you greenwood, which can be turned into timber at woodworking station. Timber is used for all your basic woodworking, and is needed to create early bows and arrows (which can be done at any workshop). Wood can also be turned into charcoal at a smelting station, which is a necessary ingredient for steel ingots.

If you want to engage in advanced woodworking, you will need lumber. If you chop down a mature tree, you will get aged wood. Aged wood can be turned into lumber at any woodworking station. However, before you can chop down mature trees, you need a Logging skill of Level 50. Luckily, that’s easy to obtain, since young trees are everywhere in the overworld. Just a little bit of deforestation and you’ll reach Logging Level 50 in no time.

Wyrdwood and Ironwood are the next steps up and require a significant investment in Logging (Levels 100 and 175, respectively). However, these resources are rarely needed, barring side cases like high-level bows.

Iron

Iron is the resource you will probably want the most of in New World. The ore (which is mined from iron ore veins found in the overworld) can be turned into iron ingots at any smelting station. Iron equipment is the next stage up from flint, so you’ll want it pretty early to craft your weapons, as well as any heavy armor you might need.

You’ll still want iron ore even after you’ve graduated from iron equipment, as iron ingots are needed to create steel ingots. Also, if you use either the bow or the musket, you’ll need plenty of iron ingots to craft ammunition.

Hemp

You can harvest hemp fibers from hemp plants in the overworld. Hemp can be turned into cloth at any loom. Cloth is used in the crafting of all clothing and armor, even heavy armors such as iron plate armor. So, whatever weapon you plan on using, you will need hemp to craft your armor.

The Basic Strategy

At the start of the game, I recommend focusing on Harvesting and Mining. Harvesting is leveled by grabbing any plants you find in the overworld, and Mining gets leveled at the start by mining stone from boulders. There will be plenty of plants around and stones near the settlements, so both skills will be easy to level.

If you level Harvesting to Level 25, nearby hemp will show up on your compass map. And if you level Mining to Level 25, nearby iron ore veins will show up on your compass map. This will make it much easier to grab those resources while you’re out doing your quests.

Wood is also a valuable resource early on (especially if you want to use the bow as your primary or secondary weapon). Skinning animals gives you meat and hides, which are both useful as well (certain clothing requires hides, for example). Trees are so abundant in the overworld, however, that you don’t need to prioritize Logging the same way you do Gathering and Mining. Similarly, just running through the woods will get you attacked by animals left right and center, so leveling up your Skinning will be easy as well. 

Join the High Ground

Now you have a more in-depth look at the different resources in New World and how to obtain them. If you enjoyed this guide, drop a comment below! Check back for new content, and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest and greatest from HGG.

Happy gaming!

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