Tools & Harvesting
Tools are the cornerstone of resource acquisition in Conan Exiles, enabling survivors to extract vital materials from the harsh environment. Your initial toolkit will consist of the basic Stone Pick and Stone Axe. These rudimentary implements are crucial for early-game survival, allowing you to gather essential resources like wood and stone. As you progress and gain access to better crafting stations and recipes, you will be able to upgrade to more efficient tools. The progression typically follows a tiered system: Iron tools offer a significant improvement over stone, followed by Steel tools, which further enhance gathering speed and yield. The pinnacle of tool crafting for raw resource gathering lies with Starmetal and Obsidian tools. These advanced tools not only gather resources at an accelerated rate but also yield a greater quantity of materials per node, making them indispensable for large-scale construction projects or crafting high-tier items. It is important to understand that different tools are optimized for specific resource types. Picks, for instance, are most effective when harvesting stone and ore deposits like Iron, while Axes excel at felling trees for wood. For harvesting plant-based resources such as herbs and fibers, the Sickle is the tool of choice, providing a much higher yield than any other tool for these specific materials.
Mastering the use of the correct tool for the job is paramount to efficient survival. For example, attempting to harvest wood with a pick will yield very little, and using an axe on an ore node will be similarly ineffective. The difference in gathering speed and yield between a basic stone tool and a starmetal tool can be substantial, often reducing the time required to gather materials by more than half. This efficiency is critical when preparing for major building endeavors or when needing large quantities of specific resources for advanced crafting. always aim to craft the highest tier of tool they have access to for the resources they intend to gather. For example, when mining Iron nodes in the area around the Serpent-Man's Spire, equipping an Iron Pick or better will drastically speed up the process compared to using a Stone Pick. Similarly, for lumberjacking in the Shattered Bridge area, a Steel Axe will be far more effective than a Stone Axe. The Starmetal Pick, when available, is unparalleled for harvesting rare ores, and the Obsidian Axe is the supreme choice for wood collection.