Conan Exiles Iron Locations & Early Resource Guide

The first fifty hours of Conan Exiles are a resource logistics game: iron for tools and weapons, oil for fuel and crafting, glass for windows, ichor and resin for alchemy, brick for anything more serious than a hut, and gruel to keep your first thralls fed. This guide is the early-game resource reference — the best iron locations, and the exact sources and recipes for the materials that unlock once you're out of the stone age.

Here's what you'll learn:

• The best iron farming locations on the Exiled Lands
• Iron smelting: ironstone → iron bar (and why you need coal)
• Where oil, glass, ichor and resin come from (with exact recipes)
• Brick and the building material chain
• Gruel and the thrall food economy

Best Iron Locations

Iron comes from ironstone nodes — run-through-with-metal ore veins that smelt into iron bars in a furnace (2 Ironstone → 1 Iron Bar). The community-confirmed hotspots, cross-checked across map layers and video guides:

• Oasis of Nekhet (north of Sepermeru) — the classic: dense iron and coal clusters in one region. This is the single best early-game iron run.
• Seabol ridge (south) — "tons of metal along the ridge," per the Steam community threads; good for southern spawns.
• Tower of the Bats mountain top — a reliable northern cluster.
• North of the river around Sepermeru generally — the region between the river and the oasis is node-dense.

Per the official Ironstone wiki page, "Ironstone nodes generate naturally" — no special tool gating beyond a pick — and smelting converts the ore to iron bars in a furnace.

The practical loop: mine ironstone + coal together (the Oasis of Nekhet region has both), smelt the ironstone into bars, and keep the coal running the furnace. Iron bars feed the steel chain (via steelfire — see our hardened steel guide), so an early iron surplus is never wasted. For the map tool that pins these nodes, see the interactive map guide.

Oil: The Fuel Economy

Oil is a mid-game material with a deceptively simple recipe chain: 1 Bark + 1 Ichor → 5 Oil at the Alchemist's Bench — but only if a Tier 3 or Tier 4 Alchemist thrall is placed at the bench (the recipe is thrall-gated). There's also a bulk recipe: 100 Coal + 1 Pure Sorcerous Lifeblood → 50 Oil in a Firebowl Cauldron.

That makes oil a two-step problem: get an Alchemist thrall (see our thralls guide), and farm ichor (below). Once running, oil powers furnaces, lamps, and the later fuel-hungry stations — and it's the base ingredient for the Oil of X alchemy potions (Agony, Balance, Bounty, Concussion and the rest) that fuel the endgame.

The Oil wiki page confirms both recipes and adds the catch: "The production of Oil in an Alchemist's Bench requires any Tier 3 or 4 Alchemist" — the thrall gate is the real bottleneck, not the ingredients.

Glass, Ichor and Resin: The Alchemy Set

Glass — the simplest recipe in the game: 2 Crystal → 1 Glass in any furnace (10 seconds). Crystal is mined in the northern mountains (Temple of Frost area) and the volcano. Glass is the mid-game building/ornamentation material (windows, benches).

Ichor — the viscous fluid from arthropods (spiders, scorpions, sand reapers and other bugs). Two reliable sources:

• Harvest corpses with a hatchet — the wiki is explicit that "a Hatchet works best" for ichor from corpses. Bug-heavy zones (the jungle, spider caves, the Unnamed City outskirts) are the farming grounds.
• The Traitor of Blood exchange — summon the Traitor of Blood at the Circle of Power to trade 50 Blood for 100 Ichor. This is the bulk route once sorcery is running.

Ichor feeds oil (above), alchemy recipes and the sorcery economy, so it's worth banking even when you don't need it yet.

Resin — the "blood of trees," harvested with a pick on any tree (a pickaxe works but yields less). The reliable bulk source: trees in the Highlands and Tundra biomes. The Dryer also produces it as a byproduct: 1 Wood → 2 Dry Wood + 1 Resin (15 seconds) — so running a Dryer for building materials doubles as resin income. Resin is used in tar/insulated wood crafting and various building and alchemy recipes.

Brick and the Building Chain

Brick is the step up from sandstone foundations: 5 Stone → 1 Brick in a furnace-family station (10 seconds, 8 XP). It's the base material for the mid-game building sets (and hardened brick, the tier above, which needs more processing). Stone is free and everywhere, so brick production is only limited by furnace time — run a dedicated furnace on stone and you'll never stall a build. Brick also feeds the top-tier benches (Campaign/Garrison stations need Hardened Brick), tying the building chain into the hardened steel endgame.

Gruel and the Thrall Food Economy

Gruel is the thrall diet staple: 5 Plant Fiber + 1 Seeds → 10 Gruel at any campfire-family station (5 seconds, 22 XP). The item description is honest about it — "this thin and watery gruel is probably not enough to sustain an active adventurer. For thralls, however, it serves." The Gruel wiki page confirms the recipe.

Practical economy: every Wheel of Pain conversion and every tamed animal consumes gruel (or better foods), so set up a gruel cook line early — a campfire with a plant fiber + seeds input running in the background. Plant fiber is everywhere; seeds drop from harvesting plants. For the animal side of the food chain, see our horses guide — horse feed runs on the same campfire/stable economy.

FAQ

Where is the best place to find iron in Conan Exiles? The Oasis of Nekhet north of Sepermeru is the community-standard spot — dense iron and coal in one region. Seabol ridge (south) and the Tower of the Bats mountain top are reliable alternatives. Smelt ironstone in a furnace: 2 Ironstone → 1 Iron Bar.

How do I make oil in Conan Exiles? At the Alchemist's Bench with a Tier 3 or Tier 4 Alchemist thrall placed: 1 Bark + 1 Ichor → 5 Oil. Bulk alternative: 100 Coal + 1 Pure Sorcerous Lifeblood → 50 Oil in a Firebowl Cauldron. The Alchemist thrall is the bottleneck.

How do I make glass in Conan Exiles? Smelt 2 Crystal → 1 Glass in any furnace (10 seconds). Crystal is mined in the northern mountains (Temple of Frost area) and the volcano interior.

What is ichor and where do I get it? Ichor is the viscous fluid harvested from arthropod corpses (spiders, scorpions, sand reapers) — use a hatchet on their bodies for the best yield. Bulk alternative: trade 50 Blood for 100 Ichor with the Traitor of Blood at a Circle of Power. It feeds oil, alchemy and sorcery recipes.

What is gruel used for? Gruel (5 Plant Fiber + 1 Seeds → 10 Gruel at a campfire) is the standard thrall food — it fuels Wheel of Pain conversions and keeps tamed animals fed. It's not for players; keep a gruel cook line running at base.

Related Guides

• Conan Exiles Hardened Steel & Black Ice Guide
• Conan Exiles Brimstone Locations Guide: Best Spots
• Conan Exiles Star Metal Guide: Locations & How to Mine
• Conan Exiles Thralls Guide: Taming & Best Thralls
• Conan Exiles Map 2026: Exiled Lands & Siptah Changes

Official resources: Steam store page · Official wiki — Ironstone · Official wiki — Oil · Official wiki — Glass · Official wiki — Ichor · Official wiki — Resin · Official wiki — Brick · Official wiki — Gruel

Last Updated: August 13, 2026