Iron and Coal are two important resources in Conan Exiles, as they allow for the progression of weapons and tools from the primitive stone variants. Not only do Iron based weapons and tools allow you to gather more resources quickly, but they also last a damn sight longer, and deal greater damage. Iron also opens up the possibility of skinning knives, allowing you to obtain large amounts of hide, in a very short space of time. Where Coal is concerned, this opens up long lasting torches, while also giving you the opportunity to build free-standing torches around your structures.

If you’re struggling to find both Iron and Coal, here’s the locations for both and what you need to look out for.

Iron

Hug the map's boundary wall all the way to the marker and you can't miss the iron nodes.

Iron is obtained the same way as Stone, and you’ll only need a basic mining pick to grab some. It looks like a slightly darker stone, with blue veins running through it. Typically you’ll find it near cliffs, on the edge of grass and desert landscapes. Most Iron clusters stretch for some distance, and a cycle through the nodes can yield you at least 400-500. While that might not sound a huge amount, it’s often more than enough to build full armor and weapon sets once it’s turned into Iron Bars.

Tip: If you’re running here exclusively for Iron, be sure to empty your inventory beforehand and drop any stone the iron node gives you. This’ll allow you to carry much more.

If you're near to the spiders and their webs, you're in the right spot for lots of iron.

The location I often use, simply because it’s easily accessible and isn’t surrounded by any dangerous creatures, is to the east of the map. Here there’s a long strip that runs all along the worlds edge. You’ll know when you’ve found it as the green haze denying you entry out of the map should be on your right, and the location turns from desert to jungle; there’s also spider webs littering the area.

Coal

Be sure to fill up on water before journeying north. You'll need to drink plenty in the heat.

Coal is a little trickier to find, and a touch more dangerous. If you’re at the point where you’re armed with Iron weapons, it shouldn’t cause you too many issues. If you head immediately north towards the center of the map, and hit the large expanse of stone wall, there’s lots of coal covering the area.

As the image shows, coal is almost black compared to desert stone.

Black in colour, it’s easy to confuse coak with the darker stone that fills the desert, but there’s a distinct difference once you see them side by side. If you’re on an exclusive coal run, be sure to drop any stone you pickup from the nodes so that you can carry more coal.

Have a location for Iron or Coal you want to recommend? Let us know.