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New World: Iron and How to Farm It

The time has finally come! In my previous New World guides, I have made many a joke about iron being the most precious resource in the game, as I was always in short supply when I first started. That’s why in today’s New World guide, we’ll be talking about iron, its uses, and how to farm it. We’ll also cover the unique fae iron and its special properties as well.

Let’s get started!

What Is Iron Used for In New World?

Nearly everything. Iron is easily one of the best resources in all of New World, as it’s used for crafting so many things in the game, including most of your early and mid-game armors/weapons (if not beyond).

Iron ore is refined into iron ingots. Unsurprisingly, these are then used in crafting all your iron equipment. However, iron ingots can be further refined into steel ingots, which (surprise, surprise) are used in crafting all your steel equipment. So yeah, you are going to want iron ore — and a lot of it.

How to Get Iron in New World

First things first, you will need a pickaxe. Any old pickaxe will do. That being said, the higher-tier your pickaxe is, the more efficient your mining will be. There are five tiers of pickaxe you can equip in the game:

  • Flint Mining Pickaxe
  • Iron Mining Pickaxe
  • Steel Mining Pickaxe
  • Starmetal Mining Pickaxe
  • Orichalcum Mining Pickaxe

Fairly early on in the main quest, you will craft your flint tools and gain access to the flint pickaxe, letting you mine iron ore veins. Of course, mining will be more efficient if you upgrade to a iron or steel pickaxes. See? You need iron to get more iron — that’s how important the resource is.

Now that you have a pickaxe, what’s next? The next step is to mine stone, and I mean a lot of stone. Now, you may be questioning what stone has to do with iron, but I assure you there is a method to my madness. The stone itself is worthless to us, and is solely a stepping stone to acquiring iron.

However, stone is very plentiful and easy to find, so it’s great for leveling up your Mining skill. Once you get your Mining skill up to Level 25, iron ore veins will begin appearing on your compass map (making it much easier to find). At that point, it’s just a matter of emptying every iron ore vein you come across, and soon your inventory will be teeming with the precious metal.

Best Place to Farm Iron in New World

Iron Map Screenshot
Click to Expand | Image: Map Genie via HGG

Mostly any rocky area will be good a place to find and farm iron ore veins in New World. We specifically recommend the following locations, though:

  • The southern part of Windsward is a great starting place to get iron.
  • Further south is First Light and the western part of it is another good spot for iron ore veins.
  • Heading into Cutlass Keys into the northern section is another solid spot for farming iron.

Now we have the basics of what iron is used for and how to get it. The next thing to cover is fae iron, iron’s badass older brother.

What Is Fae Iron and Why Do You Want It?

You may have thought at first (as I did) that fae iron is its own special mineral with unique special ore veins, but you would be wrong. Fae iron is actually a rare drop that you get from mining iron ore veins. And yes — fae iron is basically just better iron.

But what does fae iron do for you? Some gear recipes might specifically call for fae iron. As per usual, the higher level you get, the higher level gear you want, and you’ll need higher rarity materials to craft said gear.

However, fae iron can also be used in place of regular iron for all your crafting needs. Doing so will increase your gear score with the crafted equipment. So it’s no surprise why fae iron would be highly sought after.

How to Get Fae Iron in New World

I just told you how to get fae iron, didn’t I? You just mine it from iron ore veins like regular iron. But remember that pesky little thing I said about a rare drop?

Yeah, the chances of getting fae iron from an ore vein are normally quite low, so we will now get into the best ways to maximize your chances of pulling said rare drop.

Mining Luck Perk

Mining Luck is a perk that does pretty much does what it says on the tin. You want to increase this as much as possible in order to increase the rarity of drops from ore veins.

When crafting your gear, you can spend additional Azoth to increase your chances of getting the Mining Luck perk on said gear. However, this perk can only be placed specifically on your pickaxe.

This perk will grant you anywhere from a 2% to 9.55% buff. This buff increases your chances of getting higher-rarity drops from ore veins and is always good to have when farming for specific ores.

Food Buffs

You can also increase your mining luck through temporary buffs gained from eating food. Here’s a list of foods that will boost your mining luck, ranked from the lowest to highest Cooking skill requirement:

As with most things in New World, you will be dealing with an interconnected web of crafting and gathering skills. You need the Mining skill to get your fae iron, you need the Engineering skill to craft better pickaxes, and you even need the Cooking skill to help maximize your chances of getting the fae iron. But hopefully this guide has given you the basic tools to farm that fae iron so you will never be wanting for weapons and armor again. Happy mining, explorer!

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We hope you found our New World guide on iron and how to farm it useful! If there’s anything else you think we should cover or mention, let us know in the comments below. Don’t forget to subscribe to the High Ground for more news, guides, and articles on the latest gaming trends.

Happy gaming!

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