Where to Farm Iron Ore

The best place to farm Iron Ore is Thousand Needles, where Gravelsnout Surveyor (level 29-30) drops it at 3.2%. That is the vanilla 1.12 chance, not yet confirmed in Forever. 667 sources are ranked below by drop chance.

Best zones:

The 15 zones with the best source; every source is listed below.

Zone	Sources	Best source	Level	Drop%
Stranglethorn Vale	74	Iron Deposit		100.0%
The Barrens	4	Weapon Crate		100.0%
Scarlet Monastery	23	Weapon Crate		100.0%
Arathi Highlands	43	Molok the Crusher	39	13.2%
Razorfen Kraul	17	Death's Head Ward Keeper	15	7.4%
Uldaman	19	Large Darkwood Chest		7.1%
Gnomeregan	13	Large Iron Bound Chest		5.6%
Razorfen Downs	8	Large Iron Bound Chest		5.6%
Duskwood	25	Solid Chest		5.3%
Hillsbrad Foothills	23	Alliance Chest		5.3%
The Stockade	2	Large Iron Bound Chest		4.2%
Darkshore	1	Battered Chest		3.8%
Wetlands	15	Solid Chest		3.8%
Silverpine Forest	1	Alliance Chest		3.8%
Alterac Mountains	28	Solid Chest		3.3%

All sources, by drop chance:

Vanilla reference — from the 1.12 world data, not yet confirmed in Forever.

Source	Level	Zone	Spawns	Side	How	Drop%	Map
Iron Deposit		Stranglethorn Vale	855		Mining	100.0%	map
Weapon Crate		The Barrens	33		Contains	100.0%	map
Weapon Crate		Scarlet Monastery	6		Contains	100.0%	map
Molok the Crusher(rare)	39	Arathi Highlands	1		Drop	13.2%	map
Death's Head Ward Keeper	15	Razorfen Kraul	2		Drop	7.4%	map
Large Darkwood Chest		Uldaman	2		Contains	7.1%	map
Large Mithril Bound Chest		Uldaman	2		Contains	7.1%	map
Large Iron Bound Chest		Gnomeregan	10		Contains	5.6%	map
Large Iron Bound Chest		Razorfen Downs	10		Contains	5.6%	map
Large Solid Chest		Gnomeregan	10		Contains	5.6%	map
Large Solid Chest		Razorfen Downs	10		Contains	5.6%	map
Large Iron Bound Chest		Scarlet Monastery	8		Contains	5.6%	map
Large Solid Chest		Scarlet Monastery	8		Contains	5.6%	map
Solid Chest		Duskwood	78		Contains	5.3%	map
Alliance Chest		Hillsbrad Foothills	7		Contains	5.3%	map
Compact Harvest Reaper	40-41	Stranglethorn Vale	1		Drop	4.8%	map
Solid Chest		Arathi Highlands	94		Contains	4.8%	map
Alliance Chest		Arathi Highlands	4		Contains	4.8%	map
Solid Chest		Stranglethorn Vale	104		Contains	4.2%	map
Large Iron Bound Chest		The Stockade	19		Contains	4.2%	map
Large Solid Chest		The Stockade	19		Contains	4.2%	map
Battered Chest		Darkshore	109		Contains	3.8%	map
Solid Chest		Wetlands	109		Contains	3.8%	map
Alliance Chest		Hillsbrad Foothills	19		Contains	3.8%	map
Alliance Chest		Silverpine Forest	16		Contains	3.8%	map
Alliance Strongbox		The Barrens	4		Contains	3.8%	map
Kovork(rare)	36	Arathi Highlands	1		Drop	3.6%	map
Digger Flameforge(rare)	24	The Barrens	1	Horde only	Drop	3.4%	map
Solid Chest		Alterac Mountains	64		Contains	3.3%	map
Alliance Chest		Alterac Mountains	12		Contains	3.3%	map
Alliance Strongbox		Alterac Mountains	8		Contains	3.3%	map
Horde Chest		Arathi Highlands	4		Contains	3.3%	map
Gravelsnout Surveyor	29-30	Thousand Needles	5		Drop	3.2%	map
Nefaru(rare)	34	Duskwood	2		Drop	2.8%	map
Gravelsnout Digger	28-29	Thousand Needles	8		Drop	2.5%	map
Bloodroar the Stalker(rare)	48	Feralas	1		Drop	2.5%	map
Kor'gresh Coldrage	39	Arathi Highlands	1		Drop	1.7%	map
Scale Belly(rare)	45	Stranglethorn Vale	1		Drop	1.7%	map
Wrathtail Sea Witch	19-20	Ashenvale	13		Drop	1.5%	map
Venture Co. Strip Miner	40-41	Stranglethorn Vale	26		Drop	1.5%	map
Shadowforge Surveyor(elite)	35-36+	Loch Modan	39		Drop	1.5%	map
Shadowforge Digger(elite)	35-36+	Loch Modan	45		Drop	1.5%	map
Venture Co. Miner	34-35	Stranglethorn Vale	12		Drop	1.5%	map
Mire Lord	42	Swamp of Sorrows	1		Drop	1.4%	map
Ridge Stalker Patriarch	40-41	Badlands	22		Drop	1.3%	map
Gibblesnik(rare)	28	Thousand Needles	1		Drop	1.3%	map
Hillsbrad Miner	26-27	Hillsbrad Foothills	37	Horde only	Drop	1.3%	map
Shadowforge Archaeologist(elite)	43-44+	Uldaman	2		Drop	1.0%	map
Miner Hackett	29	Hillsbrad Foothills	1	Horde only	Drop	1.0%	map
Shadowforge Sharpshooter(elite)	43-44+	Uldaman	2		Drop	1.0%	map
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Needed for:

Recipes:

Recipe	Profession	Needs
Enchant Gloves - Mining	Enchanting	1x
Rock Garden	Mining	1x
Smelt Iron	Mining	1x

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 (vanilla reference — from the 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.