How to get steel in Return to Moria to make a Steel Hammer and Pickaxe

Steel is the second tier of material you’ll unlock in Moria: Return, and you’ll quickly find it is mandatory for rebuilding statues in the Elven Cavern, along with digging through the compacted dirt to reach the Mines of Moria. Essentially, you won’t get very far with iron equipment, which is the first resource you’ll find near your initial camp at the end of the tutorial.

While unlocking steel is part of your main quest — you literally cannot progress without it — it doesn’t show up as a waypoint on your map, unlike most of the objectives so far. You’ll also need steel if you stand any hope of unlocking fast travel in Moria: Return, which is certainly something you’ll want to do as soon as possible. You’ll also need it for key tools, like the Steel Hammer and the Steel Pickaxe.

Here’s How to Get Steel in Moria: ReturnHow do you use steel to create a Steel HammerA Steel Pickaxe.

Return to Moria: How to Get Steel

Free Range Games/North Beach Games image via Polygon

We’ll go into more detail on each of these steps below, but for a quick step-by-step guide, here is what you must do to unlock steel in Moria: Return:

• Find the path to Moria Mines by reaching the Elven Cavern.
• You will be given the goal to ignite the Great Forge.
• Replace the missing three parts of the Great Forge.
• Destroy the hoard.
• You can unlock steel tools and the ingot recipe by interacting with the forge.
• Smelt steel ingots using three ore of iron, three coal and one hide.

You don’t need to worry about getting steel until you make it to the Elven Cavern, the first major location you’ll encounter in the procedurally generated halls of Khazad-dûm. You’ll also have the opportunity to encounter Black Diamonds, a first for Khazad-dum.

Your primary objective is to make it to the Mines of Moria, which are connected to the Elven Cavern through a dirt wall, very similar to the ones you’ve previously been tunneling through. However, this is made of compacted dirt, not the bog standard plain ol’ normal dirt, so it needs a Steel Pickaxe to break through.

Free Range Games/North Beach Games

Throughout the Elven Cavern, you’ll also find broken statues, much like the ones you’ve been repairing prior to finding this area and unlocking crafting recipes through. The statues in this area are lighter and need a Steel Hammer.

You must locate the Great Forge Of Narvi to get steel. For us, it was directly across from where we entered Elven Cavern. It’s enormous, so it’s tough to miss, though you will have to slay quite a few orc camps to get there.

Upon arrival, you’ll discover three parts of the forge are missing, and you must fix it with a replacement crank, gear, and pipe. All three parts can be found nearby, so simply search the area, but if you are struggling to find any of them, you’ll be able to craft them at a standard forge then lug them back to the Great Forge.

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Place everything in place, and then wait until it heats up. When the forge restarts, your first horde of spawns will appear. They are a lot of fun. The goblins will be all defeated by one shot. Voila, you’ve cleared the entire horde! You’ll unlock the crafting recipe for everything steel-based, and can now craft steel back at your camp or any normal forge.

It’s worth noting that the Great Forge of Narvi does unlock some recipes which must be crafted on location, including the Eregion Spear, Eregion Shield, and the Shieldwall, which is the first Masterwork item available to you.

Return to Moria – How to obtain a Steel Hammer & Steel Pickaxe

As mentioned above, you’ll need a Steel Hammer to rebuild the statues — plus any Ruined Mapstones you encounter — and you’ll need the Steel Pickaxe to get to the Mines of Moria. Once you’ve activated the Great Forge of Narvi, you can craft a Steel Hammer and a Steel Pickaxe at a standard forge. You must first obtain steel ingots, which require 3 iron ore, and 3 coal to melt.

Steel ingots can be used to make Steel Pickaxes and Steel Hammers.

Steel Hammer Recipe

Free Range Games/North Beach Games

• The Steel Ingots are x2.
• Elven Wood, x4
• Hide x1

Steel Pickaxe recipe

Free Range Games/North Beach Games

• Steel Ingots, x3
• Elven Wood, x4
• Hide x1

Free Range Games/North Beach Games

Elven wood can be found by chopping down any trees in the Elven Cavern — just watch out for any bears or wolves wandering nearby, as they can sneak up on you.

To get hide, you must kill Hriwaras, which are the white deer you’ll find in the Elven Cavern. Some of them have horns, some don’t, but either type will drop Hides. (Note that Hides are are not the same as Hide Scraps, which you can loot off enemies you’ve found so far, such as wolves and ben’imun. You can turn Hide Scraps into Hides, but that requires a Loom, which you won’t unlock for some time.) You’ll also use Hides to expand your inventory, so stock up.

Steel is the material of choice until the end of your playthrough. After that, you will have to use bronze (copper and tin) which can be obtained in the Mines of Moria. Moria: Return.