Black diamond is among the world’s most vital resources Return to Moria. You are introduced to the concept of Black Diamonds quite early on. Once you reach the first camp during the opening half hour, you will find a Ruined Mapstone inside, which will require one Black Diamond to repair.
However, the survival game gives absolutely no indication as to how to actually get a Black Diamond, so you’ll have to figure it out for yourself. There’s a good chance you’ll encounter more Ruined Mapstones before you find Black Diamonds, and fast travel is very welcome, as traveling on foot can be quite slow. Return to Moriawe know how to get Black Diamonds.
How to get black diamonds in Return to Moria
There are three ways to obtain Black diamonds inside Return to Moria:
- Loot Orcish Chests
- Kill enemies during a horde attack
- Defeat bosses
The first time you encounter Orkish Chests is when you reach the Elven Cavern, the next major location after building your first camp. This is also where you’ll encounter slightly stronger enemies in the form of bears and goblin men, so make sure you have at least an iron sword, chestplate, and gloves.
Image: Free Range Games/North Beach Games via Polygon
There are small groups of goblin men in the Elven Cave, all found near hanging lights and meat on spits. Once you kill them, destroy the pole holding up the lights. This will stop the goblin men from respawning, but more importantly, an Orkish Key will drop. Somewhere nearby will be an Orkish Chest. There is no guarantee, but an Orkish chest has a chance of containing black diamonds. It seems that the further you progress through Moria, the more likely you are to find Black Diamonds in Orkish Chests.
Alternatively, you can get Black Diamonds by killing enemies during a horde attack. You won’t encounter this until you reach the Great Forge for the first time and light it, at which point the sound of the attack will summon a horde.
Hordes consist of several different types of enemies, but they are all typically weaker than enemies of the same type encountered while exploring. Goblins in a horde go down in one hit, compared to the three or four they will normally take. Once you’ve cleared the horde, search the floor for all the loot and load up your inventory. There will be plenty of them, including a chance to find a Black Diamond or two.
Image: Free Range Games/North Beach Games via Polygon
Finally, you can defeat bosses and have a chance to win many Black Diamonds at once. Bolgakh, the boss deep in the mines of Moria, is an example, or you can find more bosses in Orc City. Killing these can drop more than 10 Black Diamonds at a time, but as you might expect, they are much harder to defeat.
Ultimately, black diamonds are a very valuable resource; when you purchase them, use them wisely.
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 these are guaranteed, but if you want to rebuild a destroyed map stone as quickly as possible, your best bet is to look for Orkish chests in the mines of Moria and beyond. This is where the drop rate seems to increase, although the orc camps and chests themselves also become a little harder to find.
If you’re strong enough, the most reliable method is definitely killing bosses, thanks to the amount of Black Diamonds you can loot in one go. It takes some time to get strong enough for that, though, so keep hunting Orkish Chests for now.