If you’ve spent your first few hours in Enshrouded running from shroud creatures and cobbling together wooden tools, you’ve probably hit a wall where stone gear just isn’t cutting it anymore. Upgrading to iron gear, building sturdier bases, and unlocking mid-game crafting recipes all rely on one core resource most new players struggle to source consistently. If you’re here because you want to figure out how to get iron bars in Enshrouded without wasting time on dead ends, you’re in the right place. I’ve put 80+ hours into the game across multiple playthroughs, and I’ve tested every method of sourcing iron to find the fastest, most low-effort routes for both new and returning players.
What You’ll Need Before You Start to Get Iron Bars in Enshrouded
You don’t need to beat any major bosses or unlock end-game areas to start farming iron, but there are a few non-negotiable prerequisites you’ll need to check off first. Skipping these will leave you frustrated, so take 10 minutes to get these sorted before you head out looking for ore.
First, you’ll need a Bronze Pickaxe or better. Stone pickaxes can’t mine iron ore nodes, and I learned this the hard way on my first playthrough, wasting 12 minutes whacking a shiny iron node just to get zero resources. Bronze pickaxes are cheap to make, requiring just 8 bronze bars and 3 wood, so craft one before you leave the starting Springlands biome.
Second, you need to have unlocked the Smelter crafting station. You get this by rescuing the Blacksmith from his vault in the northern part of the Springlands, and it’s the only station that can turn raw iron ore into usable bars. Don’t skip the Blacksmith quest line, even if you’re focused on exploring first. You’ll also need at least 10 free inventory slots per farming run, since iron nodes drop 3 to 4 ore each, and you’ll want to haul as much as possible to avoid extra backtracking.
Best Locations to Farm Iron Ore Consistently
Iron ore only spawns in biomes north of the starting Springlands, so you’ll need to fix the first broken bridge near the Ancient Spire to access the Revelwood region first. The bridge repair only costs 10 wood and 3 stone, so it’s a tiny investment for a huge payout. I’ve tested dozens of iron farming spots across the map, and these three are the most reliable for players of all skill levels:
- Revelwood Abandoned Mine: 14+ iron nodes per run, low enemy spawns, and just a 2-minute walk from the Revelwood Ancient Spire fast travel point. The only enemies inside are 3 stray wolves and one low-level shroud mage, so it’s perfect for new players who don’t have top-tier combat gear yet.
- Eastern Revelwood Cliffs: 9 open-air nodes with no shroud coverage at all, ideal for players who hate navigating dark, cramped mine spaces. The nodes are spaced along the cliff ledges, so just watch your step to avoid falling and losing all your collected ore.
- Northern Kindlewastes Foothills: 20+ iron nodes mixed with small coal deposits, best for late-game players who already have heat resistance gear. You’ll run into a few more high-level enemies here, but the sheer number of nodes makes it the most efficient spot for end-game iron farming.
I usually stick to the abandoned mine for my first few iron runs, since it takes less than 10 minutes to clear all nodes. Iron nodes respawn every 15 minutes of in-game time if you fast travel away and come back, so you can loop the mine and your base nonstop if you need a huge stack of bars quickly. For players who prefer a more relaxed farming experience, the cliff spots are just as efficient, and you can pick up extra berries and wood while you move between nodes.
How to Smelt Iron Ore Into Usable Iron Bars
Once you have a stock of raw iron ore, you’re halfway to getting your first set of iron gear. But there are a few small details about smelting that most new players miss, and they can add hours of unnecessary waiting time to your grind. First, make sure your Smelter is placed in a covered, enclosed base space. I made the mistake of leaving my first Smelter out in the open rain, and it stopped working entirely until I moved it under a roof.
Each iron bar requires 2 iron ore and 1 piece of coal to craft. You can find coal nodes in the same mines as iron, so grab any coal you see while you’re farming ore to save yourself a separate trip later. If you don’t want to farm coal, you can also make it by burning regular wood in a Charcoal Kiln, though that’s a slower process for large batches.
Each standard iron bar takes 30 seconds to smelt, so a stack of 100 ore will make 50 bars in about 25 minutes. You don’t have to stand next to the Smelter while it runs, so you can go off and complete side quests or farm more ore while you wait for bars to finish. If you unlock the improved Smelter upgrade later in the game, you can cut that smelting time in half, so it’s worth saving up the resources for that upgrade as soon as you can. Never smelt iron one bar at a time – queue up as many as you have resources for, so you don’t have to keep coming back to the station every 30 seconds.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Farming Iron Bars
Even with a clear guide, it’s easy to make small mistakes that waste your time and resources. I’ve seen hundreds of new players make these same errors in community discords and my own playthroughs, so keeping these in mind will save you a lot of frustration.
The biggest mistake is trying to farm iron before you have a bronze pickaxe. I still see players asking why they can’t get ore from iron nodes, and 9 times out of 10 they’re using a stone pickaxe. It takes less than 5 minutes to craft a bronze pickaxe, so don’t skip that step. Another common mistake is not bringing enough healing items with you on farming runs. Even the low-risk abandoned mine has random shroud spawns sometimes, and you don’t want to die and lose all the ore you just spent 20 minutes collecting.
Don’t ignore coal spawns while you’re mining iron – you need one coal per two iron ore to make bars, so grabbing coal while you’re already in the mine saves you a separate farming trip later. I used to skip coal spawns to save inventory space, and I’d end up having to go back to the mine the same day just to get enough coal to smelt my ore. Don’t hoard raw iron ore either – smelt it into bars as soon as you can, because raw ore takes up twice as much inventory space, and almost all crafting recipes only accept bars, not raw ore.
Once you get the hang of the farming and smelting process, you’ll never run short of iron for your builds and gear upgrades again. It might feel like a hassle the first time you make the trip out to Revelwood to farm ore, but it’s one of the most impactful progression steps you can take early in the game. If you follow the steps we’ve laid out here, you’ll know exactly how to get iron bars in Enshrouded with way less frustration and wasted time. Next time you log on, grab your bronze pickaxe, head to the abandoned mine, and you’ll have a full stack of iron bars before you know it.