LOTRO Prospector: There’s Gold (and Orcs) In Them Thar Hills

We’ve already covered how to find and harvest Crafting resource nodes. Now, we will get a bit more specific as to what ores the Prospector deals with, and what Ingots they can produce from them. We first divide the resources into their Crafting Tier Levels (explained here).

We can then, generally, divide the metals into those used for strength, which go into weapons and armour, and those which are used for aesthetics, which go into jewelry. Of course, in terms of game mechanics terms, jewelry gives a lot of buffs, so it isn’t just about looking good.

Prospectors also turn up a lot of Gemstones used in jewelry, so we will mention those as well.

Usually, ore is pretty easy to find in level appropriate areas, but where particularly good locations exist, they will be noted. The main thing to look at, however, is what you need to be doing with your ore and which ores you need most.

There is always a market for metal you can’t use, but gathering is time consuming so you want to make the best use of that time. For example, right off the bat, you need Bronze to advance the Metal and Weapon smithing Professions, but Copper to advance Jeweller.

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Bronze Ingot – 2 Copper and 1 Tin Ore makes 2 Bronze.

Beauty:

Copper Ingot – 2 Copper Ore makes 1 Copper (going forward, if the ore and ingot are named identically we will just list the numbers).

The best places to look for Copper nodes are the Rushock Bog in the North Western Shire, and the Midgewater Marshes South East of Bree.

Agate and Amethyst

Strength:

Barrow-iron Ingot – 2 Ore makes 1

Low-grade Steel Ingot – 1 Barrow-iron Ingot and 1 Coal makes 1 (here we introduce Refining Recipes: Smelting Recipes turn ore into ingots; Refining Recipes transform ingots into different kinds of ingots).

Strength metals that come from refinement are usually called Something-Steel, and used in weapons and armour. They require Coal, which you can buy at Supplier NPCs, but it is expensive so when you find some in your gathering keep it for your own use.

The unrefined ingots are usually called Something-Iron. They are also used by Weapon and Metal smiths, but to make Crafting Tools and Class Items (shield spikes, traps, etc.) respectively.

Beauty:

Silver Ingot – 2 Ore makes 1

Bloodstone and Opal

Strength:

Rich Iron Ingot – 2 Ore makes 1

High-grade Steel Ingot – 1 Rich Iron Ingot and 1 Coal makes 1

Beauty:

Gold Ingot – 2 Ore makes 1

White Gold Ingot – 1 Gold Ingot and 1 Silver Ingot makes 1

Ruby and Sapphire

Strength:

Dwarf-Iron Ingot – 2 Ore makes 1

Dwarf-steel Ingot and Westernesse Steel Ingot – These both require 1 Dwarf-iron Ingot and 1 Coal to make 1. Dwarf-steel is the more commonly required, at least.

Beauty:

Platinum Ingot: 2 Ore makes 1 (But finding Platinum Ore, unequivocally: sucks. There are only two places to get it. There is a bit in the Northern Central/Western areas of the Misty Mountains, but there is far better density on the West coast of Lake Evendim.)

Adamant

Strength:

Ancient Iron Ingot – 2 Ore makes 1

Ancient Nickel Ingot – 2 Ore makes 1 (Used by Metalsmiths for Reputation items with the Council of the North in Angmar, and Weaponsmiths for Rep with the Rangers of Annuminas in Evendim).

Ancient Steel Ingot – 1 Ancient Iron Ingot and 1 Westernesse Steel Ingot makes 1

Elven-steel Ingot – 1 Ancient Iron Ingot and 1 Coal makes 1

Beauty:

Ancient Silver Ingot – 2 Ore makes 1

Beryl and Moonstones (Moonstones are used to make Reputation Items for the Dwarfs of Thorin’s Hall).

Continuing the theme of finding the materials in level appropriate areas, Supreme nodes are only found in the higher level areas introduced with the MoM expansion. You will start finding Khazad-copper and -tin in the Southern parts of Eregion. As you enter and progress deeper into Moria, they will slowly give way to Khazad-iron and -gold.

Stength:

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Khazad-iron Ingot – 2 Ore makes 1

Khazad-Steel Ingot – 1 Khazad-iron and 1 Coal makes 1

Mithril-infused Khazad-iron and -steel Ingots – With a rare Mithril Flake, an Ingot of the original metal, and a piece of Rich Coal, you can make Mithril-infused Ingots used in the game’s best items. You can get Rich Coal from the NPC Provisioner in the 21st Hall, outside the crafting bunker.

Beauty:

Khazad-copper Ingot – 2 Ore makes 1

Khazad-gold Ingot – 2 Ore makes 1

Mithril-infused Khazad-gold Ingots – Like the Mithril Infused Ingots described above, but obviously using a Khazad-gold Ingot instead.

Aquamarine and Dawn-rose

You now know everything you need to know to find all the metal ore and make the ingots you need to supply Weaponsmiths, Jewelers, and Metalsmiths. Before I let you go though, I feel I have to point out something very important.

Processing ore can be quite boring. Either strike up a conversation or wait till you have a stack or two to do and go do something else while your character gets the grunt work done. Make sure you repair the Crafting Tool you’ll be using – you don’t want to get back from folding laundry and find that the Tool broke 20 ingots.

Speaking of which, my Dwarf-steel should be ready. Happy crafting!