How to get Black Diamonds in Return to Moria

Black Diamond is among the most vital resources in Return to Moria. You’re introduced to the concept of Black Diamonds fairly early on. As soon as you make it to the first camp during the opening half an hour or so, you’ll find a Ruined Mapstone inside, which requires one Black Diamond to fix.

However, the survival game gives absolutely no indication as to how you can actually get a Black Diamond, so you’re left to figure it out for yourself. There’s a high chance you’ll encounter more Ruined Mapstones before you find Black Diamonds, and fast travel is very welcome since traveling by foot can be quite sluggish in Return to Moria, we’ve got the lowdown on how to get Black Diamonds.

How to get Black Diamonds in Return to Moria

There are three methods of getting Black Diamonds in Return to Moria:

• Looting Orkish Chests
• Killing enemies during a horde attack
• Defeating bosses

The first time you’ll encounter Orkish Chests is when you reach the Elven Cavern, the next major location after you build your first camp. This is also where you’ll find slightly tougher enemies in the form of bears and goblin-men, so you’ll want to ensure you have, at a minimum, an iron sword, chestplate, and gloves.

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There are small crops of goblin-men throughout the Elven Cavern, all found near hanging lights and meat on a spit. Once you’ve killed them, destroy the pole holding up the lights. This will stop the goblin-men from respawning, but more importantly, it will drop an Orkish Key. Somewhere nearby will be an Orkish Chest. There’s no guarantee, but an Orkish Chest has a chance to contain Black Diamonds. It seems the further you progress through Moria, the higher chance you have of finding Black Diamonds in Orkish Chests.

Alternatively, you can get Black Diamonds by killing enemies during a horde attack. You won’t encounter these until you reach — and light — the Great Forge for the first time, at which point the noise of the attack will summon a horde.

Hordes consist of multiple different types of enemies, but they’re all typically weaker than enemies of the same type you’ll encounter while exploring. Goblins in a horde go down in one hit, compared to the three or four they’ll take usually. When you’ve cleared the horde, scour the floor for all the loot and load up your inventory. There’ll be plenty there, including a chance to find a Black Diamond or two.

Image: Free Range Games/North Beach Games via Polygon

Finally, you can defeat bosses for a chance to receive lots of Black Diamonds in one go. Bolgakh, the boss found deep in the Mines of Moria, is one example, or you can find more bosses within Orc City. Killing these can drop upwards of 10 Black Diamonds at a time, but as you’d expect, they are much tougher to take down.

Ultimately, Black Diamonds are a very precious resource — use them wisely whenever you acquire them.

The fastest way to get Black Diamonds in Return to Moria

Which of the three methods above is the fastest way to get Black Diamonds? None of them are guaranteed, but if you want to rebuild a Ruined Mapstone as soon as possible, your best bet is to hunt for Orkish Chests in the Mines of Moria and beyond. This is where the drop rate seems to increase, though the orc camps and chests themselves are also a little harder to find.

If you’re strong enough, the most reliable method is certainly to kill bosses though, thanks to the quantity of Black Diamonds you can loot in one go. Becoming tough enough for that takes some time though, so keep hunting Orkish Chests for now.