A lot has changed with gathering in TWW – make sure you read the Gathering guide first!
Tools of the Trade
- BiS Accessories:
- Aqirite Miner’s Headgear – engineer made, +11 skill, +61 Deftness & Perception @max quality
- Miner’s Aqirite Hoard – engineer made, +11 skill, +121 Finesse @max quality
- BiS Tool: Artisan Pickaxe – bs made, +18 skill, customizable secondary stat, can be enchanted
- Phial of Truesight: gives a bonus to Perception & lets you see camouflaged ore – this is a HUGE help and roughly doubles the number of nodes you see.
- Specialty Bag: Excavator’s Haversack – The cooldown of Overload Empowered Deposit is reduced by an additional 1% when mining
Ore types, and where to find them
Ores
- Bismuth: found in all zones
- Ironclaw: found in all zones
- Aqirite: All zones except the Isle of Dorn (see camouflaged)
- Imperfect Null Stone / Null Stone: a rare drop that can come from mining any TWW deposit. 5 imperfect null stones can be combined into 1 null stone.
Empowered Prefixes (Overloadable)
- Crystallized: the most common of the empowered ores, found in all zones
- EZ-Mine: found in all zones except Azj-Kahet
- Webbed: found in all zones
- Weeping: only found in Azj-Kahet and Hallowfall. Weeping Ironclaw can be found only in delves.
See the “Mining the Mysterious” section for the effects of gathering and overloading the empowered nodes.
Other Prefixes
- Rich: uncommon deposits that yield more ore than regular versions
- Seams: very rare deposits, found only in caves, that yield even more ore.
- Camouflaged: you need a Phial of Truesight to see camouflaged ore deposits. Because they are prefixed, they give mining skill-ups to a much higher level than the non-prefixed version of the deposit. Camouflaged Aquirite can be found on the Isle of Dorn or Ringing Deeps, but not the other zones.
Mining Specializations (3)
1. Plethora of Ore
AKA the skill specializatin – get higher quality ore.
The base node improves your skill at gathering by 1 point for every point invested. It also gives you a tiny bit of perception/deftness/finesse.
The secondary nodes improve your skill for gathering a specific type of ore by 1 for each point invested. There is one node for each type of ore in TWW (bismuth, aquirite, ironclaw). You can also find a smattering of perception/deftness/finesse here, which is also specific to the ore type. The secondary nodes will teach you how to refine that ore type as well. Maxing out the secondary nodes increases your chance to gather Null Stones, which is a rare reagent.
2. Mining Fundamentals
AKA the mounted gathering specialization – gather faster/better & while mounted.
The base node boosts finesse, and its capstone ability is mounted gathering.
The secondary nodes give improvements (primarily skill) for gathering from rich deposits and seams.
3. Mining the Mysterious
AKA the Overload specialization – get valuable rare reagents from rare ore deposits.
The base node gives you the ability to Overload empowered deposits and gives you +1 skill per point invested to harvest these special types. Investing in it also reduces the CD of the overload ability.
The 4 secondary nodes improve your abilities (primarily skill) when gathering the specific empowered type, and makes gathering from that type reduce the CD of Overload. Unlocking the node lessens any harmful effects from gathering that type of ore.
The table below tries to sum up the key points about the empowered deposits, the bad thing that happens if you try to gather it, the overload effect, and what reagents you can get from them.
| Prefix | Gathering Effect | Overload Effect | Accesses to Reagent | Secondary Capstone Ability |
| Crystallized | Gives you a 3% secondary stat buff and protects against the negative effects of altered and weeping nodes (2 min, extendable) | Portal to another ore node (one way unless you unlock the Crystallized secondary node) | Crystalline Powder | Get more reagent |
| Weeping | Poison | Summons creature | Writhing Sample | Get more reagent from summoned creature |
| EZ-Mine | Spits out dynamite around it, which are time-delayed explosions to avoid. | Stops spitting out dynamite, but starts a countdown timer for a single large explosion (instakill) and spawns a bunch of mini nodes- mine fast and get out before the timer goes off. | Pile of Rusted Scrap (engineers only) | You can mine EZ nodes faster, letting you mine ~2x as many small nodes when overloaded |
| Webbed | Roots you | Summons spindlepsiders – they are tiny and run around – walk over them to collect weavercloth. | Weavercloth | Summons more spindlespiders |
Suggestions
Recommended Path:
- Fill up the base node of Mining Fundamentals first to get mounted gathering. It’s a huge quality of life improvement, and makes gathering go faster. Remember, “time is money, friends”.
- After that, put 10 points in the Plethora of Ore base node and unlock the Bismuth subnode
- At this point, you can choose to stick with the base node for universal benefits, or invest in Bismuth, which is the most valuble/in-demand ore.
- Plethora: if you continue this route, you’ll get these benefits that apply to all mining situations: 65 skill, 60 perception, 45 deftness, 75 finesse, and another 5 skill in each of the other ores when you unlock their subnodes.
- Bismuth: if you fill this subnode, you’ll get these benefits that only apply when mining Bismuth: 55 skill, 60 perception, 180 deftness, 30 finesse, and the big incentive, at 45 points: you gather undamaged null stones instead of fragments when mining Bismuth. Null stones are very valuable.
You can skip Mining Fundamentals→Seams – seams are so rare that investing in this is not very efficient. Mining Fundamentals→Rich Deposits is worth it though, but I’d prioritize finishing the full Plethora spec first.
The Overloading options are underwhelming this expansion, so I’d save that spec for last.