No Man's Sky Guide: Where to Find Iridium

Game Rant

By Derek Nichols

Published Aug 11, 2016

One of the most valuable trade commodities and crafting resources in No Man’s Sky is Iridium, and this guide helps explain what it is and the best places to find it.

Even though the highly anticipated space exploration game No Man's Sky is being played by PlayStation 4 owners, there's still a lot that people don't seem to know about the title. Much of the development period for the game was marked by questions surrounding the actual gameplay and how players would interact with the world. While many answers have surfaced over the past few days, players continue to discover new things hidden within the title. The crafting and trade resource Iridium is one such mystery as it is a rare item that is highly sought after, though finding it can be downright tricky.

In the No Man's Sky universe, Iridium is an incredibly important mineral, and also one of hardest to come by. In addition to being a fantastic trading commodity, the resource is most commonly needed for crafting various blueprints and upgrades. Players looking to craft a hyper drive or a number of defenses and weapons for their ships will want to make sure they have plenty of Iridium on hand.

While there may not be a sure fire way to get large amounts of Iridium at one time, here are a number of ways to help increase the odds of finding the highly sought after material.

Planet Scanning

Like most things in No Man's Sky, the best way to acquire Iridium is to keep exploring planets. The uncommon material isn't available on every planet so players will want to use their scanner to pinpoint large rock formations or archways that can be mined. These structures have a much higher chance to contain Iridium, so make sure to mine every last bit of the structure to ensure that none of it is potentially left behind.

Head Back To Space

Considering how random this resource can be when visiting planets, arguably the best method for finding Iridium is actually found in space. As mentioned in our Thamium9 guide, space is littered with asteroids that can be shot at and destroyed for resources. While Thamium9 is pretty common, certain asteroids may also give Iridium.

Looking closely at the various space rocks will reveal that some asteroids look different based on the type of material they're made from. While Thamium9 asteroids appear rocky and rugged, Iridium based asteroids appear smooth, even in shape, and give off a bluish-green hue. Destroying these will grant various amounts of the resource.

Galactic Martketplace

The final method to quickly getting Iridium is to simply visit the various vendors in the galactic marketplace. While not common, this material will occasionally come up for sale, though keep in mind that due to how sought after and rare this item is, it won't be sold for cheap. Luckily, players that need a boost to their bank account have newly discovered ways to quickly and easily earn some cash.