Where... Where are the iridium nodes?

[HaleyRocks]

Okay, i used to enter Skull Cavern and meet iridium nodes. They were even on first floor sometimes, if you were lucky (not the luck stat in-game, luck in real life i mean). Now i go down the floors and i meet none! Instead, there is an abundancy of iron ores (whom nobody needs because they are abundant in normal mines), gold ores (again they are useless, since normal mine's bottom is full of the stuff) and the occasional copper.

Where. Are. The. Irridium. Nodes.

 

[Ereo]

How far down did you go? In my experience they start appearing regularly at level 50 or 60 and get more common the deeper you go. I sometimes have single nodes further up but not a lot.

 

[Yvi]

I'm used to iridium being fairly scarce on the early floors of skull cavern, but yeah it does seem less than normal recently. Most of the iridium nodes I see early on end up being the crabs, but the crabs drop iridium so I don't really mind that the iridium is crabbier than anticipated.

 

[HaleyRocks]

What? Have they been pushed to level... 50? How the inferno am i supposed to farm iridium for the mid-game's needs?

Other than the Prismatic Shard nerf, were the iridium nodes also pushed further down???

 

[Ereo]

It’s always been much easier to get iridium if you could get past level 50. In not sure if it’s even less nodes now (intentionally or not, and there were recent changes to the mines).

if you have trouble getting down that far, there are a couple of good guides. Mainly use speed + luck, don’t fight but run, use bombs and staircases, bring food. Once you’ve got some iridium make some crystalariums (quartz, jade, ruby) and exchange the gems at the desert trader.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Iridium nodes do not seem to be less common with the exception that more are the Iridium Crabs than before. I'd almost never see any nodes before Level 30 to the point that if I was just breaking nodes and maybe Bombing on rare occasion to uncover Ladders, I'd return home with 6 or 8 Iridium, getting to max Level 40 or so. In that respect I don't notice much difference in Skull Cavern now.

What I do see is my strategy changed to: Lucky Day, Lucky Lunch. Stairs down to Level ~100 and then start Bombing the more concentrated nodes and skipping the low node or Monster-infested Levels. Eat Cheez if you get nibbled by a bunch of Monsters. 200 Iridium and 4 Prizzy Shards is my standard result for this. It's better strategy and to be honest:

Way more FUN!

 

[FilthyGorilla]

The iridium nodes can spawn on early levels but it’s quite unlikely, every floor you go deeper they become more common, as ereo said about 50-60 is where you start to see a couple every floor on average. It’s totally possible to see entire clusters on level 1 though, you just have to be quite lucky (which I assume you were to see so many early on)

 

[HaleyRocks]

For real? I used to enter floor 1, check for nodes, harvest if present or quit to the entrance, then rinse and repeat! At 1.5, i never went past the first 10 levels, before getting myself every tool iridium, getting my slime hutch and repairing Willy's anchor!

Imagine that i accidentally discovered Gramps' statue which generates iridium daily, back then!

This sucks big time. Maybe i am skipping Skull Caverns entirely until the endgame, then. I have no use for the guides, what i need is the good old farming spot! Besides, at this point in the game, i have neither the free time nor the resources, to organize proper dungeon expeditions.

Another question then, if i may... Is iridium now more scarce, even in Volcano dungeon???

 

[Lew Zealand]

For real? I used to enter floor 1, check for nodes, harvest if present or quit to the entrance, then rinse and repeat! At 1.5, i never went past the first 10 levels, before getting myself every tool iridium, getting my slime hutch and repairing Willy's anchor!

Imagine that i accidentally discovered Gramps' statue which generates iridium daily, back then!

This sucks big time. Maybe i am skipping Skull Caverns entirely until the endgame, then. I have no use for the guides, what i need is the good old farming spot! Besides, at this point in the game, i have neither the free time nor the resources, to organize proper dungeon expeditions.

Another question then, if i may... Is iridium now more scarce, even in Volcano dungeon???

Wow, that Level 10 strat was enough? That's cool, I never tried to do Iridium this way. Maybe the generation is down but I missed that detail in the update notes, though I didn't read them too completely to avoid spoilers. Node spawns are determined by Luck, are you going on Lucky days and do you have the Rabbit's Foot Buff and are you eating a Food with a Luck Buff? Hmmm, it looks like Ore Nodes are one of the few spawns not affected by Luck according to the Wiki though you get more Mystic Stones with higher Luck and Iridium is one of their drops.

I haven't found Iridium to be overall more scarce and I think I see Iridium nodes more frequently in the Volcano Dungeon, but that may be because I'm looking for other things there and getting Iridium instead.

 

[Ereo]

There was a post on Reddit today with the same issue, but they were playing mobile, so I don’t think it has changed with 1.6.

you must have been very lucky before!

 

[ThePerfectGarden]

you must have been very lucky before!

That's my impression too. I've been playing umpteen saves as yet, and I've noticed that every save is different - some are lucky, some unlucky, so to speak.
In any case, I've never been able to harvest iridium in the Skull Cavern from the very first levels. I always go there early in the game for the iridium ore, but with the intention of killing as many purple slimes as possible, especially mother slimes and their young, as they almost always drop iridium.

I couldn't tell a difference between 1.5 and 1.6, not even in the Prismatic Shards. I'm now in year 3 and have already found 7 PS. Maybe you're just having some bad luck this time?

 

[HaleyRocks]

Well, since i am almost 1,5 seasons away from year 3, i will wait to get Grandpa's Statue. And once on Ginger Island, to pay-waiver my way to perfection as soon as possible, in hopes of getting hands upon the P.S. statue.

I get the impression that going full Joja, especially as far as mentality is concerned, is the correct way of doing things, in the new version.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Well, since i am almost 1,5 seasons away from year 3, i will wait to get Grandpa's Statue. And once on Ginger Island, to pay-waiver my way to perfection as soon as possible, in hopes of getting hands upon the P.S. statue.

I get the impression that going full Joja, especially as far as mentality is concerned, is the correct way of doing things, in the new version.

Joja might be easier for some people as there's less to manage other than just "get g" but I have not experienced changes to the core gameplay which would push a player towards or away from Joja in a detectable way. It's even taken me about the same amount of time to get an AutoPetter in this save and that's a real advantage of the Joja choice.

 

[stardew_luv]

For real? I used to enter floor 1, check for nodes, harvest if present or quit to the entrance, then rinse and repeat! At 1.5, i never went past the first 10 levels, before getting myself every tool iridium, getting my slime hutch and repairing Willy's anchor!

Imagine that i accidentally discovered Gramps' statue which generates iridium daily, back then!

This sucks big time. Maybe i am skipping Skull Caverns entirely until the endgame, then. I have no use for the guides, what i need is the good old farming spot! Besides, at this point in the game, i have neither the free time nor the resources, to organize proper dungeon expeditions.

Another question then, if i may... Is iridium now more scarce, even in Volcano dungeon???

I do believe they appeared sooner. Not many but a couple at least on high luck and luck food buff days. Usually closer to level 10-15 for me though. Then by 50 I’d get anywhere from 10-15 or so on lucky days, luck food buff days. By 60-70 there were many floors with lots or mixed ore iron, gold, iridium and many gems. (The iridium crabs were counted in these nodes.

Early floors on lucky days, with luck buff foods, your best bet is slaying a bunch of purple slimes (wear slime chaser ring if have) and you might get lucky with an iridium crab or two.

CA made some things harder in 1.6, but through other methods like skill books and paying for Joja cheats he made some things easier.

I have definitely noticed my 1.5 forged crusader infinity blade doesn’t work as well. I’m tempted to buy a new galaxy sword from Marlon and reforge it and see if that helps. I never used to die very often in skull cavern, now I do. Things are stranger in some ways and it is likely bugs as all updates with any game have.