Starsand Island Diamond Farming Guide: Conquering the Moonlit Forest
Diamonds are the undisputed kings of the mineral hierarchy in Starsand Island. You need them for high tier gear, ridiculous cosmetics, and endgame progression.
You cannot just stumble into a cave with a rusty pickaxe and expect to walk out a millionaire. The game aggressively gates this resource behind specific questlines, crafting ranks, and tool requirements. If you do not know exactly where you are going or what you are doing, you are just going to waste your time. If you are entirely new to the mechanics, you should probably read my Starsand Island Beginner Guide before you start worrying about endgame materials.
I spent hours testing the spawn nodes and manipulating the instance timers to figure out the absolute best way to stockpile these things. Here is everything you need to know to strip mine the Moonlit Forest for all it is worth.
The Mandatory Prerequisites
Before you even think about planning a farming route, you have to bypass the gatekeepers. If you skip these steps, you will not even have access to the nodes, let alone the ability to break them.
Zephyria's Exploration Quests
Diamonds primarily spawn in the Depths of the Moonlit Forest, and the game will not let you in there right away. You need to head to the northwest section of the map, just past the Green Pasture Ranch, and find Zephyria. He runs the Exploration Club. You have to join his club and grind through his specific questline until you finally unlock access to the deeper, darker sections of the forest map. If you keep getting turned around in the dark, pull up my Moonlit Forest Walkthrough to safely navigate your way to the Moonlight Meadow and the Homeward Trail.
Crafting the Impact Hammer
A standard pickaxe will just bounce off a Diamond node. You need an Impact Hammer or better. To get this, you must reach the Junior Crafter rank at Zerine's General Store. The blueprint will cost you 2,500 Coins.
Crafting it is a whole separate chore. You are going to need an Impulse Pickaxe as a base, plus a Hardwood Plank, an Iron Sheet, a Radiant Crystal, and some Bronze. Get this built before you step foot in the forest.
The Moonlit Forest Farming Route
Once you have your heavy machinery and your forest access, it is time to run the loop. The nodes in the Moonlit Forest are fixed, meaning they will always spawn in the exact same general areas. You do not want to wander aimlessly. You want to run a tight, circular path to minimize your travel time.
Start your run at the Ancient Tree Ruins and clear the nodes moving in a clockwise direction. From there, push toward the Luminous Pond and sweep the perimeter. Next, transition over to the Moonlit Glade pathways, specifically hitting the nodes clustered around the Moonlight Meadow and Homeward Trail sectors. Finally, wrap up your loop at the Forest Edge Caves before heading back to the start.
Manipulating the Respawn Timers
Running the route once is not farming. To actually stockpile Diamonds, you have to force the game to give you more.
There is no massive global timer you have to wait out. Starsand Island relies heavily on map instances. When you clear your circular route, you can force the nodes to refresh simply by resetting your instance. You can do this by fast traveling to a completely different region and immediately returning, or by just logging out to the main menu and logging back in.
What to Do With Your Diamonds (And What Not To Do)
You finally have a bag full of the rarest resource in the game. Do not immediately ruin your hard work by doing something stupid at the vendor.
The retail price for a Diamond at the shops is a miserable 30 Coins. Selling them is an absolute scam. The time it takes to farm a Diamond is worth infinitely more than the pocket change the vendors offer you.
Instead, hoard them in your storage chests. You are going to need a massive stockpile for endgame processing, elite crafting recipes, and unlocking top tier tool upgrades. If you have an absolute surplus and want to burn a few, use them as gifts. Certain romanceable NPCs absolutely love shiny rocks. Handing a Diamond over to Alex, for example, will instantly net you a massive +15 affection point boost. Keep them for your gear, or use them to buy friends. Just keep them away from the sell tab.
