- Conan Exiles Lemurian Warrior Armor Guide - August 3, 2023
- Conan Exiles Glass Flask Guide - July 12, 2023
- Conan Exiles Circle of Power Guide - July 11, 2023
Made of a gelid substance from the void, Black Ice nodes are available in the cursed lands of Conan Exiles to help you progress during your gameplay. After reading this Conan Exiles Black Ice Nodes guide, it will become less challenging for you to figure out the best way of mining these stunning clusters.
What are Black Ice nodes?
Black Ice nodes are big-sized crystalline rocks that you can mine in Conan Exiles in exchange for ice (Black Ice and regular Ice), and they can be easily distinguished from other nodes by their different shape and colors (black and blue).
Ice nodes look similar in aspect but with lighter shades and won’t drop any Black Ice.
Black Ice is a resource that you want to collect, especially if you’re closer to reaching the endgame, due to what you can craft with it. So trying to find Black Ice nodes is crucial to take a step forward in the game if you wish to get sturdier materials to reinforce your base and gear.
Black Ice Nodes Location
Black Ice nodes spawn in Exiled Lands and the Isle of Siptah maps.
Exiled Lands
In the snow is where you will find Black Ice nodes. Be ready to face the harsh temperatures each time you need to mine Black Ice.
Use cold-insulated gear or consume foods or drinks that will warm you up to survive the cold. Using fire (campfires or torches) sometimes may not be enough.
From the few locations where you can find Black Ice nodes, The Temple of Frost (D-14) is the best to find these in a higher quantity, as long as you are careful with the Frost Giants in there.
Black Ice nodes can also be found along the Skyfall Ridge mountain, near the Eyelet Lake, over the Blizzard’s Overwatch and Crystalline Chasm mountains, near Dragonmouth, and at the eastern side of the snow environment, before reaching the Highway (where some dragons dwell).
It’s a fact that wearing Epic or Legendary armor pieces is the best option to protect yourself against the extreme cold of the snow or even the burning heat from the volcano.
However, if you don’t own any of these pieces while you’re still in mid-game, you’ll have to craft more common, cheaper armor pieces instead, but still somewhat resistant to the cold like, for example, the:
- Kambujan Shaman armor (learn the Savage Armors Knowledge at level 20 to unlock this set);
- Hyrkanian Raider armor (learn the Raider Armors Knowledge at level 30);
- Vanir Heavy armor set (learn the Nordheimer Armors Knowledge at level 40).
Wear cold-resistant pieces in every of your character’s body slots all at once to get the proper protection you need against the cold. ‘
Just be careful not to stay for long periods in areas of the snow where your status will change from “Very Cold” to “Extremely Cold” or “Frostbite” since those will kill you over time, meaning that these armors are still not enough to protect you completely where is freezing and another layer of protection is required to survive, such as better armor, different types of gear, or even consumables to warm you up a little more.
Even though it takes a while until you can start crafting Epic armor sets (learn the Exile Epics Knowledge at level 60) or finding some Epic armor pieces around the map (loot legendary chests, bosses, or graves for a chance of getting some of these), it’s worth the patience and effort you’ll do to get these to become more resistant to the environmental threats.
For example, the Epic version of the Kambujan Shaman Boots will offer double protection against the cold compared with the regular version of those boots.
Other gear pieces that can help you stay warm where cold prevails are weapons and shields, but these are usually Legendary and not easy to come by, so you can’t rely much on getting them if you’re in a rush to go up north.
You’re lucky if you find any Legendary gear that provides you any temperature resistance while playing on the Exiled Lands map, though. Examples of that:
- The mighty Solspeil – a highly durable shield (durability of 7.500) that is cold-insulated, perfect for the freezing temperatures of the northern lands – equipping it can save your life!
- The Hearthblade – a shortsword that isn’t very damaging (34 Health Damage, 8% Armor Penetration) but has enough power to keep you slightly less cold while you venture throughout the snowy lands, as it causes the “Warming” effect while you’re holding it. It will also cripple your enemies. Note that it may not warm you enough for when you’re crossing certain areas where the temperatures are way too cold, enough to put you under “Frostbite” or the “Extremely Cold” conditions, which will lead you to die in a short period.
Even though looking into temperature-resistant gear is somewhat irrelevant if you’re playing on the Isle of Siptah map, trying to find at least the Solspeil shield can be something you may still be interested in.
If you’re having trouble getting it through legendary chests, travel southwest of the Blacksail Harbor and kill the Armored Skeleton boss (located at L-13 on the map grid), Risen Bones, as it has a chance of dropping this shield for you.
If crafting or looking for gear pieces to warm you up sounds like a chore, you can opt instead for carrying consumables that can warm you up whenever necessary or using these while you’re already equipped with cold-insulated gear to reinforce your weather protection.
In Conan Exiles, you can get assorted foods and drinks which warm you up upon consumption, but only very few of them are strong enough to make you survive the coldest areas of the Exiled Lands, so consider what to take with you on your trips.
Of all the warming consumable items, my top choice is Firewater, which helps me survive even in the harshest conditions.
When I need to go through the Bridge of the Betrayer – where I quickly get Frostbite – I pack up my inventory with some cups of Firewater so I’ll survive without even needing any sturdy gear pieces to cross it.
Take only one cup of this drink at a time since it’s an alcoholic beverage and will make you feel a little tipsy.
You can make Firewater at a Fermentation Barrel, after unlocking the Specialist Brewing II Knowledge by interacting with a leather book on the ground, which you can find near the Mounds of the Dead obelisk (B-11 on the map grid).
Carrying consumables on your hotbar is recommended since their effects will only last for a short period, and you may need to consume more after a while.
Drinks (including elixirs) that will temporarily warm you up:
- Absinthe, Firewater, Highland Wine, Mead, Mulled Brew, Resin Wine, Shroom Beer, Spiced Tea, Phykos Rum, Vehemence Elixir.
Warming foods:
- Chili Desert Style, Exotic Feast, Feral Feast, Feast of Ymir, Savory Feast, Spiced and Shredded Roast, Spiced Egg, Spiced Fowl, Spiced Exquisite Meat, Spiced Haunch, Spiced Oysters, Spiced Pork, Spiced Slivers, Spiced Soup, Spiced Steak.
In the Isle of Siptah map, Black Ice nodes are present through diverse parts except on the Isles of Dusk and Dawn. You can find these nodes near the Vaults entrances, around The Tower (center of the big isle), a few Leyshrines, by the Island of Threa, and on the northeastern island. You may also find some Black Ice nodes while exploring other areas. Black Ice nodes are more common in this expansion map compared with the base game (Exiled Lands) map.
Also, cold temperatures won’t significantly affect you while traveling on the Isle of Siptah, so don’t worry about having to dress for the weather whenever you need to mine Black Ice!
How to Collect Black Ice from Nodes
Mine the nodes with a tool to collect Black Ice (you will also get regular Ice from them). Use a tool with mining ability to get this resource: a pick or a pickaxe.
To help you mine more efficiently, invest in higher-tier tools to obtain more Black Ice from nodes each time you mine. Spending some of your Attribute points on the Expertise Attribute to unlock the Efficient Harvesting perk will also influence how efficiently you collect Black Ice.
Choosing the Tools
You usually have to harvest resources with the current tools you have until you’re able to eventually upgrade to a better tool and start collecting more resources at a time, decreasing the frequency of your “farming travels” and increasing the harvesting efficiency, with or without any Expertise perks unlocked, no matter how advanced you already are in your gameplay.
Prioritizing the possession of higher-tier harvesting tools, even if that means spending all of the most precious and sturdy materials you currently own, is worth it in the long run.
These high-tier picks tend to mine Black Ice in larger quantities at once compared to others:
- Black Blood, Obsidian, Eldarium (Isle of Siptah exclusive), Black Ice, Star Metal, Acheronian Pick.
The medium-tier picks will give you an acceptable amount of Black Ice, but you will have to find a good spot on the map with enough Black Ice nodes to get enough of this resource in one run:
- Steel, Golden (Bazaar exclusive), Hardened Steel Pick.
These low-tier picks won’t give you as much Black Ice from nodes as expected, but they’re still a good start until you get better tools:
- Stone Pick, Iron Pick.
Alternatively, instead of picks to mine Black Ice nodes, you can use the multitools, which are also used to harvest Wood from trees – the pickaxes, which are, by default, superior to medium-tier picks:
- Pickaxe, The Pecker, Star Metal Pickaxe, Eldarium Pick-Axe.
The perk of choice
Once you find some locations with Black Ice nodes, it can be helpful for you to think about how to make your mining quests a little more rewarding every time you go out of your base to get more Black Ice.
While you keep progressing in your gameplay, you may want to try finding ways of traveling less frequently and spending less time harvesting resources, especially if those aren’t easy to get right away, like Black Ice.
Every time you mine Black Ice nodes, you should look into getting the resource on a large scale to avoid planning your next mining trip again so soon.
There’s an Expertise attribute perk that can help you with this – the Efficient Harvest. After you unlock this perk, you will collect extra resources upon harvesting a resource node or a tree.
The last hit that you did with your harvesting tool on a node will grant you twice the resources from it – something that would not happen if you haven’t unlocked this perk – meaning you’ll get much more Black Ice from mining the same node if you get this perk, independently of the tool you’re using.
While the more advanced Expertise perks will not influence how much Black Ice you can mine from nodes, they can still help you with the harvesting speed and carrying capacity, but that’s up to you if you wish to spend more points on this specific Attribute or not.
What can You do With Black Ice?
After mining enough Black Ice from the nodes available on the map you’re playing on, you can start using this precious resource from the Outer Dark for many things. Here’s what you can craft with it:
- Hardened Steel Bar
- Star Metal Bar
- Black-Ice Reinforced structure pieces
- Preservation Box
- Improved Preservation Box
- Feast Of Ymir
- Black-Ice Pick
- Black-Ice Arrows
- Black-Ice weapons (Broadsword, Longsword, Great Sword, Daggers, War-Axe, Throwing Axe, Javelin, Spear, Maul, Shield)
- Telith’s Lament
- Telith’s Sorrow
- Silent Legion armor set
- Redeemed Legion armor set
- Pride of Aesir armor set
These items listed above are the reason why Black Ice is so valuable.
Hardened Steel Bar
Crafted from one Steel Bar and one Black Ice inside a Furnace, this resistant metal bar allows you to make sturdy items before you reach the endgame. Reinforce your gear and tools with Hardened Steel if you can’t craft Star Metal items yet.
Star Metal Bar
You can smelt Star Metal Bars in a Furnace with 2 Star Metal ores, one Black Ice, and a Brimstone. The Star Metal Bar is a high-quality material you’ll need to use together with other crafting ingredients to make an Improved Preservation Box, various weapons, armor pieces, and kits.
Black-Ice Reinforced structure pieces
The Black-Ice Reinforced structure pieces are some of the high-tier building pieces available in Conan Exiles (tier 3). Usually, you must have Hardened Bricks in your inventory (and other advanced materials) to make high-tier building pieces through the Building Menu.
Exceptionally, Black-Ice Reinforced pieces don’t require you to use any of those Hardened Bricks to upgrade your base, meaning you can skip the crafting process of these bricks and mine Black Ice from nodes instead.
Don’t forget that, together with Black Ice, Steel Reinforcements and Insulated Wood are also necessary materials to get those Black Ice Reinforced pieces built.
The Black-Ice Reinforced building set is an alternative to any other Tier 3 sets from the base game or DLCs, Bazaar, and Battle Pass. However, the only things that change between this set and the others from the same tier are the materials and the visual aspect.
Preservation Box (regular and Improved)
Keep many items from spoiling or disappearing inside a Preservation Box with Ice.
Most perishable items in the game have a decay timer, meaning that they can either rot or vanish if they are not stored in the correct container after their decay timer reaches zero seconds, so it’s crucial to learn the Preservation Box Knowledge at level 43 or its Improved version later at level 55 (for extra storage capacity) and store your items inside these boxes before it’s too late, if you’re not going to use them soon.
Although using at least one unit of Ice per Preservation Box is necessary, otherwise it will not prevent your items from decaying.
Transfer those items back into your inventory only if you want to use them at the moment, as the decay timer will start counting right after you move them out of the Preservation Box.
Learn more about Preservation Boxes and perishable items in the following guide: Conan Exiles Preservation Box Guide
Feast of Ymir
This hearty meal, made with a bowl of Roasted Mushrooms, a pair of Meat Strips, and one Black Ice unit, is one of the religious foods of the game that you can cook inside a fully upgraded altar. It is a filling meal dedicated to the god Ymir that you can eat when hungry.
This Feast will partially quench your thirst and temporarily warm you up. If you don’t store the Feast of Ymir inside a Preservation Box with Ice, it will last two hours before it expires.
Black Ice Pick, Arrows, and Weapons
Exiled Lands map:
You can learn all of the Black Ice weapons, Pick, and Arrows Knowledge in the same area: inside The Temple of Frost – go through it until you find yourself in the boss (Hrungnir of the Frost) room.
There’s a lorestone behind this boss throne which you should interact with to learn some Knowledge related to Black Ice gear before you leave this area:
- Frost Smithing Knowledge: unlocks several Black Ice weapons, shield, and arrows recipes;
- Black Ice Throwing Axe Knowledge: unlocks the throwing axe recipe;
- Black Ice Javelin Knowledge: unlocks the javelin recipe;
- Black Ice Pickaxe Knowledge: unlocks the Pick recipe.
Craft any of these weapons, the tool, and projectiles with Black Ice and some other crafting ingredients inside the Frost Temple Smithy, which you can find inside the left room (called The Forge of Ymir) before advancing to the boss area at The Temple of Frost.
This Smithy is the only station you’re allowed to craft these items at (your own Blacksmith benches won’t work).
Isle of Siptah map:
- The Frost Temple Smithy isn’t available in this expansion, meaning you can’t craft any Black Ice weapons, arrows, or the pick. If you’re lucky, a few enemies will drop these for you.
- The lorestone that teaches you the Black Ice gear Knowledge is also not available on this map – but you’re still able to learn the Frost Smithing Knowledge: kill and loot human enemies from certain Leyshrine Surges at least for a chance of getting the scroll that you can use to unlock the Black Ice recipes. Like this, you can repair any Black Ice weapons you may get from enemy drops.
Telith’s Lament, Telith’s Sorrow
Black Ice is one of the resources you will need to craft these two Legendary swords after learning their recipe at the Black Keep dungeon.
Silent and Redeemed Legion armors
Consider mining some Black Ice nodes beforehand if you want to craft and wear any of the Legion armors pieces because each of them includes Black Ice and some other crafting ingredients (the Light and Medium Silent Legion require Star Metal Bars, but Black Ice helps reinforce Star Metal during the smelting process anyway).
Learn the recipes inside the Black Keep dungeon at the same lorestone you learn the Telith’s swords Knowledge (inside the boss room). You can only craft the Redeemed Legion armor pieces if you have an Armorer thrall inside a Campaign or a Garrison Armorer’s Bench.
Pride of Aesir armor
You’ll need Black Ice and a few more materials to craft the Pride of Aesir armor at the Frost Smithy inside The Temple of Frost (like the Black Ice weapons, for example), so protect yourself from the cold if you want this type of gear.
To learn the Pride of Aesir Knowledge, travel to the Mounds of the Dead to complete a quest. Thorgar the Blacksmith owns the Pride of Aesir Knowledge scroll, ready to trade it with you, but you’ll need to find and bring him three specific items before that happens. Here’s what you must do to get each of them:
- Thorgar’s Crest: Kill and loot Gothrad the Oathbreaker (human miniboss) at Ravaged Barrows (B/C-11 on the map grid, east of the Mounds);
- Thorgar’s Notes: Loot a chest found at Ravaged Barrows (B/C-11, east of the Mounds);
- Thorgar’s Recipe Fragment: Kill and loot the Son of Thorgar (Wight miniboss) at the Cursed Mound (B-11, southwest of the Mounds).
Once you collect all the items, head over to Thorgar’s Forge (B-11, west of the Mounds) and offer them to Thorgar in exchange for the scroll. Use it to learn how to craft the Pride of Aesir armor set.
FAQs
Question: Can I get Black Ice in Other Ways than Just by Mining Nodes?
Answer: Besides mining, you can get Black Ice from killing and looting enemies that drop it. The Frost Giants (from The Temple of Frost on the Exiled Lands) or Black Ice Rocknoses (find some at Skyfall Ridge and Blizzard’s Overwatch mountains) will drop some Black Ice when harvested.
If you own the Exalted Altar of Ymir (tier 3 Ymir’s religion altar), you can craft Black Ice inside it with 100 Ice, 5 Ice Shards, and one Manifestation of Zeal.
The Dismantling Bench will give you a few items back, including some Black Ice, as a result of disassembling the Black Ice gear you put inside it. Remember that mining Black Ice nodes should always be the priority if you’re looking into collecting this resource in a large amount.
Question: I want to build in the snow. Do I need a Black Ice-Reinforced base to survive the cold?
Answer: Not necessarily. While you are at your base, you will receive the “Shelter” status, meaning that you are currently safe from environmental threats and won’t have to use any cold-insulated gear or consume items that will warm you up until you go out exploring again.
Any building sets from each tier (1-3) will protect you from the harsh weather, making you feel less cold right after you enter your room.
However, the tier 1 building pieces (especially Sandstone) will offer you less protection compared with Stonebrick (tier 2) and sturdier structure pieces, such as Black Ice-Reinforced (tier 3), Reinforced Stone (tier 3), etc.
Question: Can I return to the same area to mine more Black Ice if I was there recently?
Answer: Yes, Black Ice nodes will usually respawn in the same locations after a while. The respawn time will depend on the server settings of the session or server you’re playing in, but the presence of new Black Ice nodes is guaranteed.
Summary
Independently of how you choose to collect Black Ice, there is no doubt that it’s a quest that requires some planning ahead of time. Mining this precious resource from nodes is, by far, the most rewarding way of obtaining it in bulk.
However, you’ll have to make some effort and be brave enough to venture yourself into some of the most dangerous places of Conan Exiles, so better be safe than sorry and make sure to be well-protected to face whatever threats you will find on your way until you finally reach the so-wanted Black Ice nodes!
And don’t forget that even if you’re still not strong enough, after following this guide, you will figure out that it’s possible to get what the most advanced players desire so much to win the game! The sooner you reach Black Ice nodes, the faster you will progress.