Last Edited:
This iron nuggets Animal Crossing guide explains how to get this valuable resource (and a lot of it!). Iron nuggets are more important in the early part of New Horizons (especially if you’re looking how to get 30 iron nuggets quickly), and over time you should eventually have a nice stockpile going for all your crafting needs.
How to Get Iron Nuggets
Getting iron nuggets is simple: hit rocks and the precious unrefined metal will drop. You can hit rocks with an Axe or Shovel, but a shovel is recommended because you already have to use your axe to hit trees and all tools are breakable. This means you want to spread the workload, among your tools as best you can.
There are only a few rocks on your island and during the first few days, and some parts of your island are inaccessible until you get the Vaulting Pole to cross rivers and the Ladder to reach higher areas.
Rock Hitting Tips
- Remove all the weeds around the rock because weeds will prevent items from coming out of the rock (since these items won’t have an empty space to land).
- You need to hit the rock quickly and consecutively. But notice you’ll bounce back with each hit, eventually ending up too far away to hit the rock. Move back toward the rock after each hit.
- Once you stop hitting the rock, nothing else will come out of it. The max amount of hits you can get is 8.
- To make getting all 8 rock drops easier, stand in front of the rock then turn around to dig 2 holes behind you. These holes will help keep you in place so you can keep hitting the rock.
- And just like that you have the max amount of resources from your rock!
Farming Iron Nuggets
Every day, each rock can be hit a max amount of 8 times. After that, it will not produce anything else. So how are you suppose to get all those Iron Nuggets?
Here are some solutions for farming iron nuggets!
- Steal from your Best Friend: If you play on one of your Best Friend’s Islands you’re allowed to use Axes and Shovels! This means you can hit their rocks (if they haven’t done that already before you arrived). See: how to add people as Best-Friends. Remember: this is a moral grey area but it is an option. Which brings us to a nefarious and classic cheat:
- Time Travel Cheat: Purists would never but you just might. You can change your system clock to the next day (which begins at 5am) which will cause all these resources to replenish. For details on how check out our Time Travel Guide.
Other Resources from Rocks (Clay, stone, etc) and the Lucky Money Rock
Rocks provide more than just Iron Nuggets. Here’s what else you’ll find.
- Gold Nuggets (rare): don’t sell these because they are rare and can be used to make a giant robot.
- Money: once a day, one rock becomes the Lucky Money rock and produces Bells instead of resources! Check out our Money Making Guide for more info and other tips.