- Digging Ma has 15 spawn locations
- The fastest way to farm Armorite Ore is to find her fast
- Check the fastest locations first, furthest last
- Gamble once each time
Digging Ma – The Fastest Armorite Ore Farm
This farm is for those who are looking to maximize their Armorite per minute. Armorite Ore is a new currency in the Isle of Armor that is spent to teach your Pokemon new moves, reset their EVs to 0, or exchange for Watts. Remember that you’ll need 3,280,000 Watts to buy all of the Master Dojo upgrades, and Armorite Ore is the fastest way to farm Watts.
The fastest and most reliable way to farm Armorite is through Digging Ma. Digging Ma will give you at least 1 Armorite every time you find her, with an option to gamble for more. Digging Ma has 15 different locations that she can spawn. She will move to one of the other 14 locations each time you find her. This can be repeated an infinite number of times a day, with no diminishing returns. She will not change positions on day change or any other event; you have to find her to get her to move.
An optimal route can check each location in just over 4 minutes and 30 seconds. This means that, worst case scenario, you will be finding Digging Ma 13 times an hour. With an average return of just over one Armorite per find (see below for gambling strategy), this comes out to 13 Armorite per hour minimum.
The normal outcome is much higher, since it checks the fastest ones first. With an average time of 17 seconds per spot, and finding her after 7.5 checks on average, you should be expecting to get just over 28 Armorite per hour.
Gambling Your Armorite Ore
Every time you find Digging Ma, she will offer you one Armorite Ore, with the option to gamble this ore for two. If you are successful on a gamble, she will ask if you want to keep going. You can continue until her shovel breaks, at which time you lose all of the ore you would have gotten. However, there is a rare chance that when her shovel breaks, it will instead get you more ore.
The probability is still being tested and discussed, but the general consensus, including my own testing, is that a single gamble will produce the most Armorite Ore over time. It looks to be close to a 50/50 percent chance of success, which would normally break even. However, with the chance of getting the lucky extra dig on a break, it ends up giving a slightly higher return by gambling once.
Armorite Farm Route
This route checks all 15 location as quickly as possible, prioritizing the quickest ones first. Digging Ma will not render until you are relatively close, but her shovel can be seen from much further away. Once you have a general idea of the run, try to look for the shovel, circled in red, instead of getting closer. Once you find her, start from the beginning again, keeping in mind that she cannot be in the same place twice in a row.
- Training Lowlands -> Potbottom Desert
- Tower of Water -> Forest of Focus
- Master Dojo -> Loop Lagoon
- Tower of Darkness -> Workout Sea
- Tower of Water -> Honeycalm Sea
- Tower of Water -> Insular Sea
- Isle of Armor Entrance -> Workout Sea
1. Training Lowlands -> Potbottom Desert
Travel to Training Lowlands. Go into Warm-up Tunnel and check on the left for #1. Continue on into Potbottom Desert toward the back wall to check for #2.
#1 Warm-up Tunnel
#2 Potbottom Desert
2. Tower of Water -> Forest of Focus
Travel to the Tower of Waters. Follow the peninsula and turn left toward the Forest of Focus. Check on your right behind the rock for #3. Continue into the Forest of Focus. Turn right and go up to the river to check #4.
#3 Challenge Beach
#4 Forest of Focus
3. Master Dojo -> Loop Lagoon
Travel to the Master Dojo and look past the gardens to check #5. Cross the bridge and pass the Diglett guy. Go around the grass on the right (or through it if you’re feeling lucky) into the river, and then into the cave. Follow the river until you see #6 on the right. Continue following the river and then the land. At the quad intersection, take the left path and follow until you see #7 on the right.
#5 Master Dojo
#6 Courageous Cavern
#7 Loop Lagoon
4. Tower of Darkness -> Workout Sea
Travel to the Tower of Darkness. Go down the first flight of stairs and check for #8 on the left. Continue down the slope and turn right until you can check #9 on the right. Turn around and backtrack to the intersection, taking a right into the cave. Follow the cave path and check #10. Enter the cave river, and turn left, heading out into the sea. #11 is on the island in the distance.
#8 Challenge Road
#9 Training Lowlands
#10 Brawler’s Cave
#11 Workout Sea
5. Tower of Water -> Honeycalm Sea
Travel to the Tower of Water. Turn left and go into the sea. Follow the cliffs until you find #12.
#12 Honeycalm Sea
6. Tower of Water -> Insular Sea
Travel to the Tower of Water. Turn right, and go straight toward the large island with two trees. Circle around this island from the left to find #13. Keep circling around the island and head toward the distant island with a single tree. #14 is on the left beach of the lone-tree island.
#13 Stepping-Stone Sea
#14 Insular Island
7. Isle of Armor Entrance -> Workout Sea
Travel to the entrance of the Isle of Armor. Follow the beach away from the Master Dojo and go out into the sea. Follow the cliffs until you reach a small beach with #15.
#15 Workout Beach 2
The Slower Armorite Farm, But Perhaps the Better
Digging Ma is the most reliable and quick way to farm Armorite Ore, but it will get boring fast. It will only give you Armorite Ore (unless you stop to fight along the way). If you are looking for a break from the grind, while still making progress, or are interested in TRs and EXP Candies, you might want to try farming Isle of Armor Max Raid Battles.
Max Raid Battles on the Isle of Armor give Armorite as well, but at a much less consistent, and generally slower, pace. However, there are additional benefits to Max Raid Battles. You will have to deal with the frustrating Y-COMM system to farm efficiently though, so check out our guide to find the most best method to farm Max Raid Battles.
