The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria Farming Guide

Our The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria Farming Guide tells how to unlock Farming, how it works, and what those white circles above a Farm Patch mean.

Once you've Built a Camp in The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, you'll probably want to figure out how to get started with Farming. After all, you're going to need Cooked Food and Rations to survive exploring the depths of the Map. Read on to learn everything you need to know about Farming!

How to Unlock Farming in The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria

You can unlock Farming in The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria by finding the Resources Ihraz Granite and Bat Droppings. Ihraz Granite can be found in The Lower Deeps and below on the Map, and Bat Droppings are loot that you can get from killing Bats anywhere in Moria. Finding these two items will unlock new Building Recipes and allow you to Build a Farm Patch or a Farm Box in any Camp.

While this is preferable, you can also do some improvised Farming by using pre-existing Farm Patches that can be found near Dwarven homes throughout Moria. These can be useful if you decide to Build a base there, but you can place Crops inside of them even if you don't have a Camp there. Just be careful not to let them get destroyed!

How Farming Works in The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria

Farming in The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria isn't all that difficult once you've unlocked it; simply Build a Farm Patch or a Farm Box, plant any Crops in your inventory, and wait. There is, however, one mechanic you need to understand: the need for light.

As Moria is mostly underground, the Dwarves have taken to cultivating Mushrooms. Any Mycologist worth their salt can tell you that most Mushrooms don't need light to grow. In The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, however, light will actually prevent Mushrooms from growing. Conversely, most other Crops need light to grow. If you put a "dark" Crop (such as Mushrooms) in light or a "light" Crop in darkness, they won't grow at all.

A Farm Patch is tagged as either "light" or "dark" based on where you build it, regardless of the actual light level. A full circle means that it provides enough light for Crops that need it, and a half-full circle means that it's dark enough for Mushrooms to grow.

You can see which Crops require light or dark in our table at the end of this guide.

Regular Torches will not affect the light level when it comes to Farming. However, getting your hands on some Sun-Stone will unlock the recipe for the Afhan Lamp which can provide artificial light for a large area, allowing you to grow "Light" Crops even in the darkest areas.

If you place an incorrect Crop, you can scroll down the menu to "uproot" it. This will destroy the Crop you planted, freeing up the Farm Patch or Farm Box for another Crop. Be careful when interacting with these Buildings -- it's very easy to accidentally plant something that you didn't intend to.

You can only plant Crops that you have in your Inventory. Once you've actually planted a Crop, you must wait for it to Grow in stages. A Crop can grow from 1 Seed or Seed Crop into 4 of the same Crop given enough time; for example, planting one Mushroom will eventually yield a maximum of 4 Mushrooms.

Note that some Crops can only be found as Seeds. You'll need to find the Seeds for Chive, Fennel, Mint, Thyme, and White Beans in order to get the actual plants. Once you've grown these plants, you'll have a good chance of unlocking one or two new Cooking Recipes.

Aside from the light level, you do not need to do anything other than wait for a Crop to grow.

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria Farming Crop List

That's the end of our The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria Farming Guide. Make sure to check out our other guides below!