Borderlands 3: How to Get and Use Iridium?
This guide to Borderlands 3 is about extraction and use of iridium walks you through how to mine the purple crystals you see on the map! We'll also take a look at some farming techniques, and exactly what you can do with all the Iridium once you've harvested it.
WHAT IS IRIDIUM?
Iridium is an alternative currency that can be used to purchase cosmetics and weapons. Don't worry, it's not real money like a game-pegged currency. You can steal Iridium after boss kills or just find crystals that can spawn on various maps in the game!
HOW TO MINING IRIDIUM CRYSTALS
If you've played Borderlands 3 at all, you've probably come across some of the purple Iridium crystal deposits that are scattered across the map. I'm sure you've tried jumping on them and trying to stomp them all without success. This is because you cannot mine these crystals for the rest of the game. To start mining this currency, you will need to beat the game and open the game's first vault (Chapter 10) to get Iridium resonator! Once you do that, you will have the option of destroying the crystals to collect the precious iridium.
Here are a few different methods that work well for growing iridium!
Method 1: Lavender Crawly Boss
This is a good method if you are at level 7 - 10. On Pandora, which is the first planet you start on, you need to go to the fast travel station Droughs, which is located on the southern point of the map.
From there, head to the Catch-a-Ride Station and get transported. Follow the map west to the very northwest corner. You'll know you're in the right place when "Varkid Valley" appears on the screen. Run all the way down into this area and you should see how Lavender Crawly (the insectoid creature) crawls out of the cave.
Now you just need to kill him. The only thing to really watch out for is his charge attacks, dodge them because they do quite a lot of damage and can hit you if you're not careful. After you kill an insect, it will wrap itself in a cocoon and two others will emerge from it. After killing them, the process will repeat itself, and the last two flying cockroaches must be destroyed. This can give you about 4-10 units of iridium in one run. You can also pick up all the weapons and what not to sell. Once you have looted the boss, you can simply exit to the Main Menu and return to the game to do it again. You can sell everything and grab some ammo from vending machines right there on the spot.
Method 2: Teleport from Forgotten Basilica to Beneath the Meridian
There is a small Iridium farm that you can use for the time being. This is right after you get the ability to collect the Iridium Crystals that we mentioned earlier in Chapter 10. Don't go any further if you want to get to the farm at the start of the game!
Once you kill the boss that is protecting the vault, you will be able to enter it and there will be two chests at the back of the area. These chests both have iridium, so smash them to collect loot. Once you've done this, exit the game and restart. Run back to the vault and repeat the action. You can do this as many times as you want, since after the first repetition, the chests will also have loot!
WHAT CAN I BUY WITH IRIDIUM?
Lots and lots of cosmetics! There are different heads, skins, emotes, and even room decorations that you can buy from Crazy Earl in Sanctuary 3. You can also purchase weapons from the vending machine next to Earl.
These will differ depending on your current level and different items will be displayed daily. You will notice that this weapon has a unique property called Anointed. This gives the weapon an extra perk that it usually doesn't have. Almost every weapon rarity can have an Anointed bonus. Some bonuses are class limited, you will see something like "Beastmaster Anointed", which would mean that only FL4K can use the bonus. These bonuses usually revolve around polishing your action skills, but they can be very different in what they do.
OTHER APPLICATIONS OF IRIDIUM
Slot machine
If you love gambling, you can head to Sanctuary 3 and hit the slot machines. This automaton can drop legendary guns, mod grenades and shields! If you've been mining Iridium, this might be a worthwhile way to spend it. Slot machines can be found in the Moxxi bar on the ship.
Eridian weapons
This is the weapon that you each get at the end of the game, it's called Eridian Fabricator (Eridanian weapons). When you fire this weapon, it will consume 10 Iridium and fire ten shots in the direction you aim! If you have a surplus of iridium and have bought all the skins, this can be a fun way to spend the excess.