The best place to farm Iron Ore in WoW Forever is Arathi Highlands, with 104 Iron Deposit spawn points in GatherMate2’s Wowhead data (spots closer than 15 yards counted once), the most of any zone, followed by Stranglethorn Vale (103), Desolace (93), Thousand Needles (89) and Alterac Mountains (74). WoW Forever keeps Classic’s node spawns in the original zones, so the Arathi Highlands and Thousand Needles routes below work in both WoW Forever and WoW Classic, and Iron Deposits still need Mining 125. The one confirmed Forever change is in Thousand Needles, where Blizzard’s October 1 beta notes raised the respawn rate of creatures and objects.
Updated November 6, 2026: ore counts now come from GatherMate2’s Wowhead data with duplicate records merged; Stranglethorn Vale is now a close second to Arathi Highlands, and Thousand Needles moves ahead of Alterac Mountains. Updated November 3, 2026: now covers WoW Forever, which keeps Classic’s ore spawns. Iron counts now come from Wowhead’s observed spawns.
Iron Ore farming
While Iron Ore farming is one of the least lucrative Ores in the game to farm, it can still sell for quite a bit on the auction house.
- Gold per Hour (Classic, 2019): ~10g
- Competition: low
- Requirements: 125+ Mining skill, level 30-35
Iron Ore in WoW Forever: What Changes
Iron farming in WoW Forever uses Classic’s zones and spawn points. The differences are around the veins:
- Faster respawns in Thousand Needles: Blizzard’s October 1 beta notes increased the respawn rate of “creatures and objects” in Thousand Needles, Ashenvale, Hillsbrad, the Wetlands and Duskwood. Veins aren’t named, so faster Iron there is possible, not promised.
- Blacksmiths need it: by our count one Blacksmith uses 225 Iron Ore on the way to 300, mostly between skill 140 and 175, while an Engineer needs almost none. We would hold Iron in launch week instead of selling it on day one.
- Ore crates: a Journeyman Waylaid Crate takes 20 Iron Ore and the Journeyman ingot crate 20 Iron Bars; the Expert ingot crate also takes 15 Steel Bars. They pay Merchant’s Favor, the recipe currency (Zockify’s beta data).
- Rock Garden: from Mining 140, this camp object grows a common mining node over time; which ore and how fast are unknown. Its Blueprint drops from the Relic Guardian in Excavation Site: Wetlands.
- Rockslicer: Zockify lists an item that mines Copper, Tin, Silver and Iron Veins without the Mining skill (30 charges), but Forever’s item data has no such item, so treat it as unconfirmed.
Thousand Needles has a full farming map with its Iron cave in our WoW Forever ore farming guide, and our WoW Forever mining leveling guide has an Arathi Highlands route for skill 150 to 200.
Arathi Highlands
There is also some Mithril in the Arathi Highlands, but it’s more in the south. So, if you are purely focusing on Iron Ore, you should skip the southern route in the picture. There are some alternative routes, depending on how high your skill is, you might also want to pick up the Mithril.
Thousand Needles Iron Ore farming
Farming in the Thousand Needles is more practical for the Horde, since it can be difficult to reach for Alliance players. If you are farming here, I recommend going into the caves, since they tend to have more Ore. Also try to skip the Shimmering Flats, there is not a lot of Iron Ore here and the distances there are not worth it. Keep in mind though, that Gadgetzan is closer than the other towns, even for the Horde.
Thousand needles was all tin. Maybe it changed in the latest patch. Zero iron.