The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria

Warning! The guide contain spoilers. Read on your own risk.

Guide to Darkest Deep

By Axbeard

Is it worth it to enter a Darkest Deep Mineshaft?

It’s a question we see OFTEN. The answers are ambiguous. Yes. No. Maybe? It depends…

I, personally, do not know if you should or should not… the decision is your ms alone. …but, should you choose to brave the darkest deeps, here is my guide.

Before you undertake this mission, there are a few things you must understand:

Your map will not work with in the Darkest Deeps. – no amount of light, no size of hearth, will warm you enough or keep you from despair.

Now you will need a base to run this operation from. This base can be one you’ve already built anywhere in Moria… or it can be a Forward Operating Base you build at the top of the Mineshaft. Here are the minimum requirements for that base…

A system of sustenance (hearth, meal table, food).
A source of brew (brew kettles, WanderKegs, BrewSkins, etc).
At a minimum, you will want a supply of Dawnbreak Pale Ale or Mirovaur. Additionally, Evening Ale, Hopgoblet Lager and Ironheart Stout can be helpful.
A source or stockpile of Abakh’s could be helpful as well.
A claimed bedroll.
A repair smithy and stockpile of metal fragments.

Personal inventory (minimum)

Hotbar

The best weapon you have + a back up.
Personal light source.
Best ranged weapon & ammo you have.
A stack of the best rations you have (and another stack in your pack).
The best pickaxe you have (I would leave the QuarryMaster behind in favor of the Zarok Torch).
At least one brew skin or WanderKeg with either Dawnbreak Pale Ale or Mirovaur.

Attire

The best Armor you have… unless you do not plan on engaging in melee combat with the Bal-dog, then take Eregion Armor and the Miner’s Helmet.

Mountaineers pack (or the biggest pack you have)

Materials for a small hearth & repair smithy + metal fragments.
Materials for a Mapstone.
A stack or 2 of Stone, Granite OR adamant for building barriers.
1 stack of natural fiber & 2 stacks of wood scraps for quick platforms & rope ladders.
Materials for wall or standing torches (I prefer standing).

Descending

Use Rope Ladders and Quick Platforms to descend the Mineshaft, building “floors” just below the end of each Rope Ladder. Be sure you can reach the rope ladders to climb back up in case your Mapstone fails and so you can reclaim your Mapstone when you are finished.

At the bottom

Build your hearth…
Build a mapstone and a chest.
Deconstruct your hearth (you don’t need sieges happening down here).
Empty your pack into the chest, EXCEPT the materials for hearth, repair smithy, barriers, quick platforms, and torches.
Apply all available buffs. Especially Dawnbreak Pale Ale or Mirovaur.
Proceed into the mine using a system of your own devising to mark your path with torches.
Beware the Bal-dog. Its aggro range is small but it hits like Grond. It will only pursue you until it runs into a barrier. When it encounters a barrier it will simply turn and go the other way. It will take a lot of hits from any weapon.
If you kill it, in my experience, it will only drop 1-2 Black Diamonds and up to 8 hides.

I like to wait until it passes an intersection and drop a barrier behind it (This will require you to drop your hearth first… be sure to reclaim hearth materials after placing the barriers).

Once you have mined everything on your side of the barriers: deconstruct barriers, wait for Bal-dog to pass and replace the barriers before mining the other side.

There will be spiders.
There may be Hordes.
Eat rations, repair, and return to base as needed.

Useful Tips

While light may not work entirely in the darkest deeps, nearby torches will slow the rate of your morale decreasing. So it’s still a good idea to place them for more than having a path out or back to mapstone.

If you can build Durins Lamp, you can bring materials to at least build one, build it, sing, and it will remove the despair and heal you, then you can deconstruct it, then rinse/repeat when the undaunted buff ends.