Struggling to carry all the rare resources and tools you find in the depths of Moria? In Return to Moria, your initial inventory space is painfully limited, but with the right crafting know-how, you can expand your carrying capacity and transform your adventure. Discover how to unlock and craft the Adventurer’s Pack-a game-changing upgrade that boosts your inventory from a mere 10 slots to a spacious 25-by gathering elusive elven wood and hides, and building a crucial workbench. Ready to stop leaving precious loot behind? Here’s your essential guide to expanding your inventory and surviving the mines of Middle-earth with ease.
You’re just going to have to put in a lot of work first. Our Return to Moria guide will explain how to expand your inventory by crafting a new pack and everything you’ll have to do to get there.
How to expand your inventory in Return to Moria
To expand your inventory in Return to Moria, you need to craft the Adventurer’s Pack, which increases your carrying capacity from the initial 10 slots to 25. To do this, progress through the main story until you reach the Elven Quarter, where you can gather Elven Wood to unlock the Workbench crafting recipe. Crafting the Workbench requires 2 Iron Ingots and 15 Elven Wood. Once the Workbench is built, you can craft the Adventurer’s Pack using 8 pieces of Hide, which you obtain by hunting animals like bears or deer-like creatures. This upgrade significantly improves your ability to collect and carry resources, enhancing your gameplay experience.
Expanding your inventory in Return to Moria is as simple as making a new and bigger pack. But getting the point where you can craft that pack is the tricky part. Before you can expand your inventory in Return to Moria, you’ll need to complete five steps first:
- Reach the Elven Quarter
- Collect a bunch of Elven Wood
- Build a Workbench
- Make a Hunting Bow
- Collect hides from animals
Once you’ve done all of that, then you’re ready to expand your inventory. Let’s break down the steps in detail.
Reach the Elven Quarter and collect Elven Wood
To expand your inventory in Return to Moria, you need to reach the Elven Quarter, located around 220 fathoms underground in the Western Halls region. This area is distinguished by its lush forest filled with resplendent trees and fewer enemies compared to earlier zones. Here, you can collect Elven Wood by either gathering wood scraps scattered on the ground or chopping down the trees in the forest. Elven Wood is a vital resource used for crafting important items such as bows, arrows, steel tools, and blacksmith bellows. Since the Elven Wood sources do not regenerate, it’s essential to harvest as much as possible and store it safely to support your crafting needs and inventory upgrades. Collecting at least 15 pieces of Elven Wood unlocks the workbench, a key milestone for crafting and inventory expansion.
Before you can make your new pack and expand your inventory, you’ll need to be able to build a new crafting station in your base, a Workbench. And for that, you’ll need Elven Wood. And for that, you’ll need to reach the Elven Quarter.
Early in the game, you’ll discover that the path to Durin’s Highway is blocked. You’ll then get a new map marker for the Shortcut to the Mines. Follow this one to (eventually) find the Elven Quarter.
There, use your pickaxe to take down a few of the trees – don’t worry much about exploring yet. The trees will drop both Wood Scraps (always useful) and Elven Wood. Collect at least 23 Elven Wood to save yourself some trips.
Build a Workbench and make a Hunting Bow
To expand your inventory in Return to Moria, start by crafting a workbench, which requires 15 elven wood and 2 iron ingots. The workbench unlocks new crafting recipes, including the hunting bow and adventurer’s pack. To make the hunting bow, you need 8 elven wood and 2 hide scraps, plus arrows crafted from wood scraps and metal fragments. Using the hunting bow is advantageous for hunting fast-moving animals like deer, allowing you to gather hide more efficiently. With the workbench and hunting bow, you can also craft the adventurer’s pack, significantly increasing your inventory space from 10 to 25 slots, making resource collection and survival much easier.
With your new Elven Wood resource in hand, head back to (a) base. (If you haven’t done so yet, here’s how to unlock fast travel.) In the Build menu, choose a Workbench (2 Iron Ingot and 15 Elven Wood) from the Essentials & Crafting tab and place it.
The Adventurer’s Pack will be unlocked at this point and it’s tantalizing 25 slots of inventory space, but you’re probably not going to have the resources for it – specifically, the Hides. Hides come from animals that run away when you get too close, so it’s time to craft a ranged weapon. Make yourself a Hunting Bow (8 Elven Wood and 2 Hide Scraps) and as many Arrows (15 Wood Scraps and 3 Metal Fragments) as you want. The arrows come in sets of 30 and a stack of them holds 99.
Collect Hides to craft a new pack
To craft a new pack and expand your inventory in Return to Moria, you need to collect hides, which are obtained by hunting large animals such as goats, cave bears, or hriwaras found in areas like the Elven Quarter and the Mines of Moria. Once you have gathered 8 hides, you can craft the Adventurer’s Pack at a workbench, which requires unlocking by collecting elven wood and iron ingots. This pack significantly increases your inventory space from the initial 10 slots to 25, allowing you to carry more resources and items essential for your journey through Moria.
The Hide Scraps that drop from Wolves and Da’imun that you’ve been using all along (including for crafting your bow) aren’t going to cut it for your new pack. You’re looking for Hides.
Hides drop from the white elk-like animals called Hriwaras that you’ll see around the Elven District. These run away when you get too close, so the only way to kill them up close is to trap them in a corner – of which there are frustratingly few in the Elven Quarter. Instead, use your bow to take them out. If you don’t kill them in one shot, they don’t run far before stopping, so just chase them down.
Technically, it’s also possible to get Hides from Cave Bears, but your weapons aren’t really a match for them yet and wearing down their health isn’t really worth the time. It’s much faster to look around for Hriwaras.
You’ll need 8 Hides for your new pack.
Craft an Adventurer’s Pack to expand your inventory
To expand your inventory in Return to Moria, crafting the Adventurer’s Pack is essential. First, you need to unlock and build a Workbench, which requires 2 Iron Ingots and 15 Elven Wood, obtainable once you reach the Elven Quarter. Crafting the Workbench unlocks the recipe for the Adventurer’s Pack, which provides a substantial 25 inventory slots, a significant upgrade from the starting Scout’s Pack with only 10 slots. To craft the Adventurer’s Pack, you will need 8 pieces of Hide, a resource gathered by hunting large animals like Goats, Cave Bears, or Hriwaras found in various regions such as the Elven Quarter and Mines of Moria. Using a Hunting Bow and arrows makes hunting easier to collect the necessary Hide. Once crafted, the Adventurer’s Pack greatly enhances your carrying capacity, allowing you to gather and carry more materials and items during your adventures in the depths of Moria.
What’s the quickest way to upgrade my inventory in Return to Moria
The quickest way to upgrade your inventory in Return to Moria is to craft the Adventurer’s Pack, which expands your inventory from 10 to 25 slots. To do this, first unlock and build a Workbench, which requires 2 Iron Ingots and about 12-15 Elven Wood found in the Elven Quarter. Once the Workbench is crafted, the recipe for the Adventurer’s Pack is unlocked. Then, gather 8 Hide (from hunting bears or hriwara) to craft the pack. Equipping the Adventurer’s Pack significantly increases your carrying capacity, allowing you to haul more resources and gear as you explore Moria.
What’s the fastest way to gather materials for the Adventurer’s Pack
The fastest way to gather materials for the Adventurer’s Pack in Return to Moria is to focus on collecting Hide and Elven Wood efficiently.
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Hide: Hunt animals in the Elven Quarter, where animals drop 1-2 Hide each, making it a quick source early in the game. Alternatively, after progressing to the Crystal Descent area, you can unlock a Loom to combine more common Hide Scraps into Hide, easing the farming process.
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Elven Wood: Found in the Elven Quarter, Elven Wood is needed to build the Workbench, which unlocks the recipe for the Adventurer’s Pack. Exploring this area and cutting down Elven trees is the fastest way to gather this resource.
By prioritizing hunting in the Elven Quarter and harvesting Elven Wood there, you can rapidly collect the materials needed to craft the Workbench and then the Adventurer’s Pack, upgrading your inventory space quickly.
