Unlocking the secrets of swift movement in the perilous depths of Return to Moria can transform your survival experience. Discover how activating and repairing ancient Mapstones with rare Black Diamonds lets you leap across Moria’s sprawling underground realms, saving you from endless backtracking and letting you focus on exploration, crafting, and battling the darkness lurking within.
However, rebuilding a Ruined Mapstone requires some very specific items, most of which you definitely will not have by this point. As you’ll also quickly find, traveling great lengths in Return to Moria is quite slow thanks to the limited stamina (and possibly the short legs) you have as a dwarf, and the enemies you’ll encounter along the way. Here’s the lowdown on how to unlock fast travel as quickly as possible in The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria.
How to make a Mapstone in Return to Moria
To make a Mapstone in Return to Moria, you need to gather 3 Black Diamonds and 20 Stones. Black Diamonds are rare and can be found by looting Orkish Chests or during horde attack events. Once you have the materials, you can craft a Mapstone at a camp’s crafting station. After building it, activate the Mapstone by interacting with it to enable fast travel between locations. Repairing a ruined Mapstone requires 1 Black Diamond and 10 to 30 Stones using a Steel Hammer. Having at least two active Mapstones allows you to fast travel across Moria, saving time on long journeys.
The Ruined Mapstone in the first camp will reveal that you need the following items to rebuild it:
- Black Diamond x1
- Stone x30
- Steel Hammer
We have a dedicated guide on how to get Black Diamonds in Return to Moria, so we won’t go into too much detail on that here. Note that you won’t be able to craft a Steel Hammer, however, until you have Steel Ingots, which our guide on how to get steel can point you toward. If you’re looking for more room to cart this all around, consult our guide on how to expand your inventory.
As you explore, you’ll find more Stone Hearths throughout Moria, all of which you can rebuild. Some of these will have Ruined Mapstones nearby, which can be rebuilt for the same materials. Alternatively, if you have three Black Diamonds, you can build a Mapstone from scratch, which means you can choose exactly where it goes. However, it still must be within the build zone of a Hearth.
How fast travel works in Return to Moria
Fast travel in Return to Moria works through the use of Map Stones, magical devices that act as fast travel waypoints. To unlock fast travel, players need to activate at least two Map Stones by repairing them with Black Diamonds, a rare resource found mainly by looting Orkish Chests or during horde attacks. The first Map Stone is found broken at the initial camp and requires repair, while the second is located in the Mines of Moria area. Once two or more Map Stones are active, players can interact with any of them to instantly travel to another, significantly reducing travel time across the game world. Additionally, players can craft their own Map Stones at restored camps using Black Diamonds and stones to create more fast travel points.
Once you have at least two Mapstones activated, you can interact with one to fast travel to the other. As you activate more Mapstones, they will be added to the list, so you can simply choose where to fast travel to from a list. These will be split up by the four regions in the game:
- The Western Halls
- The Lower Deeps
- Dwarrowdelf
- Barazinbar
It’s worth noting that fast travel isn’t instant; all it does is skip the process of walking there yourself. This means food and stamina will be consumed after the loading screen, time will have passed, and you may need to sleep upon arrival. Fast travel is a godsend in Return to Moria, but you’ll need to put in the legwork before it becomes available.
Want to discover the secret to unlocking fast travel in Return to Moria
To unlock fast travel in Return to Moria, you need to repair at least two Mapstones, magical devices scattered throughout the world. The first broken Mapstone appears at your initial camp during the tutorial, but it requires a rare Black Diamond to fix, which you can only find later by looting Orkish chests or during horde attacks starting in the Elven Quarter. After repairing a second Mapstone-often found in the Mines of Moria region-you can fast travel between them instantly. Additionally, once unlocked, you can craft your own Mapstones at camps using Black Diamonds and stone, allowing you to establish fast travel points wherever you choose. This system significantly reduces tedious backtracking and helps you navigate Moria’s vast underground realms more efficiently.
How many Black Diamonds do I need to repair my first Mapstone
You need exactly 1 Black Diamond to repair your first Mapstone in Return to Moria.
