Image source: North Beach Games
In Return to Moria, you’ll encounter a strange, purple mist that drains the life out of your character if you linger too long. This shadowy substance rises from shadow vents and is essentially the manifestation of Sauron’s influence that has overrun Moria. Eventually, you’ll need to find a way to remove it. So, if you’re wondering how to clear the purple mist in Return to Moria, here’s what you need to know.
To clear Moria of the purple shadow, you have three different options available: restore Durin’s Lamps, rebuild Durin’s Monuments, or find and use Durin’s Axe. Let’s break down each separately.
Restoring Durin’s Lamps
This is your early game option to dispel the purple Return to Moria shadow vents mist. Durin’s Lamps are scattered throughout Moria’s mines and tunnels. They can be restored in various ways and using different resources, such as stone, True-Quartz, and Ihratz Granite. Upon restoration, you’ll be prompted to sing a song that triggers a magical light, cleansing the area of the shadow.
Rebuilding Durin Monuments / Statues
Once you’ve reached the lower deeps, you can rebuild Durin Monuments that will clear the purple mist. Again, once restored you’ll need to sing a special tune to activate their magic, dispelling the shadow and revitalizing their characters. You can read our dedicated statue restoration guide here.
Using Durin’s Axe
Durin’s Axe is a useful weapon against the Return to Moria shadow vent mist. To get it, you’ll need to locate five fragments of Durin’s Axe scattered throughout Moria and reforge the weapon. The first two are given to you as main quests (guide for first here). Once reforged, the axe can be used to cleanse the shadow and remove Shadow Runes from the Doors of Durin.
The fragments are located in Westgate, The Second Hall, The Bridge of Khazad-dûm, The Chamber of Mazarbul, and The Endless Stair.
It’s worth noting that Durin’s Equipment, including armor, gauntlets, leggings, helmet, and shield, protects against the shadow curse. Although it doesn’t dispel the shadow completely, it slows down its build-up and removes the Shadow Curse debuff after a while.
Not to mention, maintaining a full stamina bar can help reduce the curse’s impact, enabling you to move quickly to clear space before the curse takes hold. You are, of course, advised to get rid of the fog permanently via one of the aforementioned three methods.
