The best place to farm Plans: Dark Iron Shoulders is Blackrock Depths, where Blacksmithing Plans holds it at 18.3%. That is the vanilla 1.12 chance, not yet confirmed in Forever. 15 sources are ranked below by drop chance.
Best zones:
| Zone | Sources | Best source | Level | Drop% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackrock Depths | 11 | Blacksmithing Plans | 18.3% | |
| Unknown zone | 2 | Dark Keeper Bethek | 55+ | 0.2% |
| Searing Gorge | 2 | Anvilrage Warden | 49-50+ | 0.0% |
- Anvilrage Warden 24.9, 79.4
- Anvilrage Overseer 25.3, 75.2
All sources, by drop chance:
| Source | Level | Zone | Spawns | Side | How | Drop% | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blacksmithing Plans | Blackrock Depths | 4 | Contains | 18.3% | map | ||
| Dark Keeper Bethek(elite) | 55+ | 0 | Drop | 0.2% | map | ||
| Dark Guard(elite) | 53-54+ | 0 | Drop | 0.0% | map | ||
| Anvilrage Guardsman(elite) | 50-51+ | Blackrock Depths | 58 | Drop | 0.0% | map | |
| Anvilrage Footman(elite) | 51-52+ | Blackrock Depths | 54 | Drop | 0.0% | map | |
| Anvilrage Warden(elite) | 49-50+ | Searing Gorge | 42 | Drop | 0.0% | map | |
| Shadowforge Peasant | 52-54 | Blackrock Depths | 42 | Drop | 0.0% | map | |
| Anvilrage Medic(elite) | 52-53+ | Blackrock Depths | 31 | Drop | 0.0% | map | |
| Twilight's Hammer Torturer(elite) | 50-51+ | Blackrock Depths | 24 | Drop | 0.0% | map | |
| Anvilrage Officer(elite) | 53-54+ | Blackrock Depths | 20 | Drop | 0.0% | map | |
| Twilight Emissary(elite) | 52-53+ | Blackrock Depths | 18 | Drop | 0.0% | map | |
| Doomforge Dragoon(elite) | 54-55+ | Blackrock Depths | 16 | Drop | 0.0% | map | |
| Anvilrage Marshal(elite) | 54-55+ | Blackrock Depths | 12 | Drop | 0.0% | map | |
| Anvilrage Overseer(elite) | 48-49+ | Searing Gorge | 12 | Drop | 0.0% | map | |
| Fireguard(elite) | 50-52+ | Blackrock Depths | 11 | Drop | 0.0% | map |
Drop% is the rate recorded in Forever once a source has been looted ten times; a greyed figure is the vanilla 1.12 chance from the world data (classic data: from the patch 1.12 world data, not yet confirmed in forever). Spawns counts the source's spawn points in the world data. "Side" names which side can kill the NPC when the other finds it friendly. The lead picks the best chance among sources that are not a rare spawn and have at least three spawn points.