Remnant 2: Hardened Iron [Locations & Farming Guide]

In my pursuit of Hardened Iron, I explored various methods for acquisition. This rare resource with a low drop rate can be obtained by purchasing it from Cass, looting it from enemies, or discovering it during exploration. 

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Key Takeaways

• You can loot, buy, or find Hardened Iron while exploring.
• Corrupted Harbor and The Labyrinth are the best spots to farm.
• The Explorer Archetype is the best for farming this essential crafting item.
• Scavenger’s Bauble, Vacuum Seal ring, and Pusling Heart Relic improve farming yield.

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In the case of Special Weapons:

Upgrade Level	Upgrading Cost
Level 1	5 Iron, 2 Lumenite Crystal, Scrap 450
Level 2	10 Iron, 2 Lumenite Crystal, Scrap 525
Level 3	15 Iron, 2 Lumenite Crystal, Scrap 600
Level 4	15 Forged Iron, 2 Lumenite Crystal, Scrap 675
Level 5	20 Forged Iron, 3 Lumenite Crystal, Scrap 750
Level 6	15 Galvanized Iron, 3 Lumenite Crystal, Scrap 825
Level 7	20 Galvanized Iron, 3 Lumenite Crystal, Scrap 900
Level 8	15 Hardened Iron, 4 Lumenite Crystal, Scrap 975
Level 9	20 Hardened Iron, 4 Lumenite Crystal, Scrap 1050
Level 10	1 Simulacrum , 5 Lumenite Crystal, Scrap 1125

Buying

In Remnant 2, Hardened Iron comes after Iron, Forged Iron, and Galvanized Iron. This is the rarest type of Iron in the game and came in handy during the endgame of my campaign. The easiest way to get this item would be to buy it from Cass for 300 Scraps from the Cass merchant in Ward 13.

You should also know that she only sells a limited amount of Hardened Iron, forcing players to rotate around the world to reset her inventory.

Another important aspect is that Cass doesn’t start selling Hardened Iron until the player has progressed to a certain point in the game. To farm Scrap faster so you can buy more Hardened iron, consider going through this guide: Best Ways To Farm Scrap. 

Exploring

Another easy way to find Hardened Iron is to explore the world and pick up random pieces of Hardened Iron around the map. Hardened Iron is most commonly found in Ward 13.

Players can use Adventure mode to re-explore areas they have already been through, seeing any Hardened Items drop they missed.

Looting

When you defeat an enemy, it drops Lumenite Crystals, Scrap, Iron, or other Items. Some will also drop Iron according to the player’s need or weapon level. To increase the hardened iron drop, make sure at least three of your weapon levels are 15 if you are using regular weapons, level 7 if you are using unique weapons, and the overall power level is at least 16.

I noticed that the game will recognize that you need Hardened Iron to upgrade further and will increase the drop quantity. This means that the game is brilliant, so give the right signals.

You can also play the game on a higher difficulty or defeat bigger enemies, such as bosses, to further increase the Hardened Iron drop. 

Farming Locations

You can find an enemy that drops Hardened Iron and is close to a checkpoint. The player can defeat the enemy, collect the loot, and activate the checkpoint. This will respawn the enemy, and you can keep doing this until you have enough items.

The Labyrinth, Fractured Ingress

Go to Fractured Ingress. Go up the stairs on the left-hand side of the big portal. Enter the area with the giant statue in the middle. Kill the Elite Golem and collect the dropped Hardened Iron. Elite Golem’s weakness is the big glowing purple circle.

Next, you must find the portal that leads the player into a new world. Take the portal to the new world and then use the portal to come back.

This will spawn the Elite Golem again. You can also activate the checkpoint or drink Liquid Escape to respawn Elite Golem again. Repeat until fulfilled.

Root Earth, Corrupted Harbor

The last World in Remnant 2 is Root Earth. Being the previous world, it contains more powerful enemies and, therefore, a higher density of loot.

Corrupted Harbor in Root Earth is the best spot to farm. Corrupted Harbor has at least 8-9 Elite enemies, considered the best option to farm the best rewards.

Farming Build

To maximize your loot and get a higher amount of Hardened Iron in less time, follow the following Build.

Explorer Archetype

I will not go into extreme details for this Archetype and just mainly focus on the skills that can help you farm for loot easily. Equip Explorer as your main class. This will allow you to avail the unique prime perk.

Upgrade Level	Unlocks
Level 1	When you defeat powerful enemies, there is a 10% chance of getting extra items and rarer drops.
Level 5	When you defeat powerful enemies, there is a 20% chance of getting extra items and rarer drops.
Level 10	When you defeat powerful enemies, there is a 35% chance of getting extra items and rarer drops.

If you are playing with your friends, Explorer also has a Team Perk known as Metal Detector, which raises the chance of the entire party to find more ammo, currency, and metal drops by 10%.

It can increase the chances of Hardened Iron dropping. You can also equip the Plains Walker skill to increase movement speed by 20% and reduce stamina cost by 80% for all allies.

Traits

This build comes with the Explorer Swiftness trait, which increases movement speed by 1%, up to 15% at the max level. Every player has four core traits.

You can also equip the Recovery trait, which regens stamina by 3s up to 30s at the max upgrade level.

Weapons And Armor

In a farming build, weapons or armor do not matter because the enemies you are farming are not that strong, so you don’t require any specific weapons or armor.

Armor and Weapons can be anything you prefer, but choose Armor that is lightweight, such as Lodestone Crown, and Weapons with significant damage, such as shotguns.

Amulet

You can equip Scavenger’s Bauble as the Amulet, increasing scrap pickup by 50% and allowing you to buy more Hardened Iron. Additionally, it automatically picks up any nearby crafting item. 

You can also equip a Broken Pocket Watch. This increases stamina regen by 25, reduces stamina cost by 50%, and can be bought from Cass.

Ring

Vacuum Seal Ring increases the range for Scrap by 100% and grants a shield for 10s for 10% of max health upon picking up Scrap, ammo, or iron.  

Relic

Farming is generally a team effort in Remnant 2. The best relic to have for this is Pulsing Heart. This relic heals allies within 7m for 20 Health every 3s. It lasts for 15s.

Item

One of the essential items to couple with this build would be Liquid Escape.  I am ashamed to admit that I almost completely forgot to use this most of the time.

It teleports the player to the last activated checkpoint. You will not lose any of your loot; however, progress made after the checkpoint will be lost. By using Liquid Escape, the game respawns any defeated enemies post-checkpoint.

Challenges Faced?

Character and weapon progression was one of the most satisfying parts of my 50-hour campaign. Seeing the DPS go up ever so slightly made all the difference in my gameplay. Upgrading does require you to gather the right resources.

I was glad to see that the loot also gets rarer with each upgrade, which did keep the gameplay fresh, in my opinion. Gathering Hardened Iron may seem difficult initially, but it got significantly easier once I started using the farming mechanic. This is why I would recommend this as one of the best ways to get your hands on their rare resource.

We hope this guide will improve your farming experience and save you time. Read more guides on Remnant 2:

• Remnant 2 Engrams.
• Remnant 2 Challenger Build
• Remnant 2 Ending Explained.