Quick answer: match the material to its route
| Material | Where to start | What to bring or check | Next use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vault Core / Vault Shard | Dragonkin Vaults | Combat preparation and free inventory space; confirm the vault is unlocked | Vault weapons, armour, stations and progression crafts |
| Wild Anima | Make it at a Kiln from 4 Anima-Infused Bark | Find the bark source and bring it back to a Kiln | Higher-tier progression and crafting recipes |
| Sapphire | Bloodblight Swamp; check Gold Ore nodes on the mining route | Mining 16 Gem Prospector and the appropriate pickaxe, or Rocksplosion | Jewellery and enchanted equipment |
| Opal | Copper Ore nodes, Tin Ore nodes or Stone Boulders | Mining 16 Gem Prospector and the appropriate pickaxe, or Rocksplosion | Jewellery, ranged equipment and decorative pieces |
| Dragon Tooth | Dragon skulls in Stormtouched Highlands or lesser dragon encounters | Iron Pickaxe for the skull route; leave the area clear for respawn | Challenge Horn and dragon-related crafting |
Collect one sample before farming a full stack. When a resource is missing, check its region, source object or enemy, tool/skill gate, and journal recipe in that order. See the resource locations guide for a broader region lookup and metal guide for ore-to-bar routes.
Vault materials
Vault Cores and Vault Shards are progression materials associated with Dragonkin Vaults. Prepare for the encounter before entering and keep inventory space for the reward. If the relevant craft remains locked after you obtain a material, check the exact recipe and station rather than repeating the vault run; many later crafts require both a core or shard and other tier-specific inputs.
Wild Anima is processed rather than picked up as a finished item: place 4 Anima-Infused Bark in a Kiln. If you have bark but cannot make the material, check that you are using a Kiln and have the full recipe quantity.
Gems and dragon materials
For Opal and Sapphire, use the source and skill/tool conditions in the table. A Gem Prospector unlock alone does not supply the gem: bring the appropriate mining tool, reach the node route and confirm the output from one test node. Dragon Tooth has a separate combat and mining route; if you use the skull route, bring an Iron Pickaxe and do not build directly on the node.
For food and healing choices, use Farming, Food, Potions, and Healing. For fish and herbs, see Herbs, Fish, and Gathering Materials; for advanced material routes, open the resource mining and gathering locations page.