В DREDGE you will need quite a lot of resources to fully upgrade your ship. Refined metal is the most difficult to obtain, as it is rare and hard to find. However, there are several guaranteed places where you can collect it!
Content
What is Refined Metal in Dredge?
Refined metal, unlike scrap metal (and other materials), cannot be easily obtained from the numerous resource spawns. There are only a few specific places where you can find refined metal.
This is an important resource, because without it you won't be able to expand the ship's hull and get more storage space and equipment slots.
Where to buy refined metal in Dredge
After you get at least one relic, the traveling merchant will have one refined metal in his inventory. You can find it in the far right tab while shopping at the shipyard in any pontoon location. The price for one piece of refined metal is $450, so be sure to save up some cash!
Where to find Refined Metal in Dredge
There are five places where you can easily get refined metal. One of them is quite expensive, but the rest will not require you to spend a lot - only time. Don't forget to grab a few bags of explosives, as you'll need them to get past the barriers blocking some of the refined metal sources.
Storm rocks
Refined Metal in Storm Rocks is located near the Dusty Pontoon. However, before you can access it, you will need at least one explosive. Swim a little southeast of the Dusty Pontoon towards Storm Rocks and you'll find a blocked tunnel.
Blow up the stone barrier with explosives and you will find a dredging site in the tunnel which will give you one refined metal. If you previously purchased Refined Metal from the Traveling Trader, you should now have two resource units.
star bay
Travel to Star Bay. In the northeast corner at 2G coordinates is an abandoned village. There are two wooden paths that block a section of a short river. To get through, you need to use explosives to remove at least one of the wooden barriers.
After that, you will find a dredging site that will give you one Refined Metal. It is also worth noting that this area is a great place to collect wood and fabric. So, if you're following this guide, you should now have at least three pieces of refined metal.
shaggy braid
After collecting the materials in Star Bay, go to Shaggy Scythe. Start at the Wobbly Pontoon and swim west into the forest maze. When you get to the first bay, take the north fork. By doing this, you will enter an area with mushrooms.
Now turn west. Follow the south coast until you reach a fallen tree that lies behind huge roots. Blow up the fallen tree with explosives to clear the path.
You will see a dredging site where you can get another refined metal. This place is located in the southeast corner of the map at coordinates 14E. As a result, you will have four pieces of refined metal.
Devil's backbone
Last but not least, the place where you can find two pieces of refined metal at once is located on Devil's Backbone. Head to the northeast side of the largest island in this area. In the southeast corner at coordinates 14P is the Sanctuary of the Deep. When interacting with the sanctuary, you will see the silhouette of two fish.
At this stage, you need to catch one Pale Seahorse and one Ghost Shark - both are found nearby. Then, return to the temple and place them on the altar. After that, you will receive two refined metals, one research part and one bottomless flame. In total, you should have six pieces of refined metal.
How much refined metal is needed to completely upgrade the ship
To fully upgrade your ship's hull, you will need six units of Refined Metal (in addition to some other normal resources). There are three levels of hull upgrade: level 1, level 2 and level 3.
To improve the hull level 1, you need one refined metal. To upgrade the hull level 2, you will need two pieces of refined metal. And finally, to upgrade the hull to level 3, you need to have three pieces of refined metal.