How to really get Ironwood in Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria makes a habit of revealing materials that you need for crafting recipes long before you can actually get your hands on the resource.

Ironwood is no different, and there are a couple steps in your journey before you can harvest the stuff.

Enchanting your axe in Return to Moria

Ironwood is not really a naturally occuring resource in Return to Moria, and so can’t be harvested like any other wood in the game. To harvest Ironwood is a special type of wood, one that can only be harvested using a specialised tool.

You’ll need Ironwood to access the more advanced gear in the game, namely the Ironwood Pickaxe, a tier 4 pick that is required for your progress. Technically you could forge the Quarrymaster Masterwork Pickaxe, however that isn’t at all practical for your journey moving forward, considering you’ll need to hold it with both of your hands.

Once in Dwarrodelf, you will come across emeralds. These precious gems, like the others, can be used to enchant your weapons with runes on the rune table. Emeralds allows your axe, once enchanted with the rune, to get runewood from trees.

Ironwood is one such wood, that is only available if you’re using the enchanted axe. So head on over to Dwarrodelf and grab a few emeralds to get that done. You’ll unlock the rune upon finding your first emerald.

So don’t be tempted to search far and wide in the Lower Deeps for some, like I did. It’ll save you a lot of time.

Related: Does Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria have crossplay?

Finding Ironwood in Return to Moria

With your enchanted axe, you will have to head back to the Lower Deeps. Ironwood may now be produced upon breaking down the large fungal trunks, alongside wood and Ubasam wood.

So harvest away and chop down as many as you need. Ironwood won’t drop all the time, so you may have to cut a few down before you get your first Ironwood.

With this enchantment, it would be wise to cut down other trees to see what other secret goodies you may find. But for now, the plentiful Ironwood will do fine to craft you tier four tools and gear.

It would also be remiss of me to not mention that Ironwood can also be harvested from destroying ancient wooden furniture in Dwarrodelf.

I hope this guide has helped, fellow Dwarf, and that you’ll have all the Ironwood you need before long. For more Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria help, tunnel on over to PC Invasion.