Method #1 (EHP):
3t kick-alt iron (superheat optional)
Xp/Hr:
up to 65k/hr
Description:
Use a 4-rock spawn between two adjacent tiles; wilderness hobgoblin mine is most commonly used but mining guild is possible. Equip an event rpg on an alt with low attack/strength. Equip a shortbow with no arrows on the main, with retaliate on. Remember that you can get +15 level difference if you use a PvP world. Mine two rocks from tile 1, then move to tile 2, and time your mining to occur immediately after you attempt to retaliate.
Method #2:
3.33t Iron
Description:
Snow from a snowglobe or reindeer hat is used to start 3t cycles before iron rocks respawn. This allows the player to mine iron faster at locations with 3 or fewer rocks because otherwise they would be limited by respawn times of the rocks. There is still 1t per 3 rocks spent waiting on respawn, resulting in 10 ticks per 3 rocks, or 3.33t on average.
You have to spawn snow tick-perfect for this to work. It’s an alternating cycle: on snow spawn 1, you click prance/snow on the tick between starting to gather snow and mining the 3rd rock in the second round of rocks. On snow spawn 2, you click prance/snow on the same tick as you mine rock 1 on the second full round of rocks. Here is a visualization:
You always have to wait one tick after mining the third rock before clicking snow again or you will be too early and rock 1 will not have spawned yet.
This method is a good option for people who can’t or don’t want to use PVP-based methods. 4-rock iron in the hobgoblin mine might be nerfed soon also, meaning this will be the best method.
Method #3:
3.5t Iron
60,000 XP/HR
Description:
This is a pretty easy method with solid XP rates. You want to normally mine non movement rocks, and use leather for movement rocks. This method is normally done in the mining guild. You can do the same method at the hob goblin mine, but attacking a hob goblin with an empty short bow on rapid instead of using leather.
With a rune pick axe, mining normally gives you a 3t cycle, with a 1/6 chance to 2t. This means you can react quickly to 2t’s with your leather for maximum XP rates. Reacting perfectly to 2t’s can reduce the ticks per iron from 3.5t to 3.416t.
Example: