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Secrets of Gloomrot has brought many new resources to collect, as well as some serious changes to resource farming locations. So, it's time to spotlight the best of them!
This is Aiming4Gaming, and today we're aiming for resource gaining!

TL;DR

This guide originated from my YouTube video, where I show all resource locations in action. If you enjoy watching videos, I would be really grateful if you checked it out and rated it - it would help me a lot!
However, it's also fair to offer something to Reddit, which is why I decided to make a text version of my guide here as well. So, if you prefer text guides, it's right below!
Important note: Reddit post is limited to 20 pictures, so I can't show every location :( I selected the most important locations as reference, but unfortunately that's my limit here. Also, to not overload map with all places, I highlighted typical locations for cotton and other wide-spreaded resource types.
I'll try to group up resources by their purpose.

Smelting

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Farbane Woods
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Dunley Farmlands
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Gloomrot and Cursed Forest
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Silverlight Hills
Copper can be extracted in large quantities from the Copper Mine, along with Hell's Clarion. Don't overlook chests, and remember to consume a worker to boost the resource yield!
Sulfur is obtained from the Bandit Sulfur Quarry. By the way, some nodes are surrounded by explosives, which obliterate them with a single precise shot!
If you require a substantial amount of copper or sulfur at once, the new Trancendum Mine is exactly what you need! However, exercise caution as the enemies there can be formidable.
Whetstones are commonly dropped in Bandit Encampments. The Bandit Armory is also a fantastic place since you can collect not only whetstones but also stone dust, which is essential for crafting whetstones! Whetstones are almost always found in the chests here, and occasionally they drop from barrels or enemies guarding the areas.
Iron can be extensively mined in two locations: the Haunted Iron Mine and the new Iron Cave.
To access the cave, you will need explosives or the bear form. I recommend using the bear form for an additional reason - these mines are guarded by numerous golems, but they won't attack you if you're in bear form! Unless you provoke them first! Additionally, the bear form enables you to break the massive deposits here, which yield a substantial amount of iron! Golems here also drop iron if, for some reason, you desire more from your run.
The Haunted Iron Mine is a much more challenging place for mining, with all the chaos unfolding everywhere! However, unlike the Iron Cave, it contains chests with other valuable items like sulfur, gems, grave dust, and books. Nonetheless, the abundance of enemies and the burning ground make this place less preferable than the Iron Cave. By the way, don't overlook the chests in the tents outside; they usually contain iron ore and other goodies!
The ideal location for Quartz in this update is the Quartz Quarry, which boasts numerous nodes and workers that enhance your resource yield. Also, be sure to check the houses for additional loot!
Scourgestones, along with some mourning lilies and bones, can be found in Dunley Monastery, the Church of the Damned, as well as the houses in Cursed or Ancient Villages.
Dunley Monastery features multiple containers, each typically containing one or more scourgestones. However, this place is protected by holy radiation, which can only be resisted by crafting a holy resistance potion.
The Church of the Damned appears to be easier, as you can collect chests and search graves here.
As for the Villages, you'll eventually need to visit them for ghost crystals anyway, so you can gather scourgestones as a bonus!
Silver can be obtained through two methods. Firstly, there are several nodes in the area to the West of the Silver Mine. Secondly, you can venture into the mine itself by navigating around and accessing it through a secret passage.

Tailoring

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Farbane Woods
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Dunley Farmlands
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Gloomrot and Cursed Forest
Leather and rugged hide can be discovered in the Bandit Trapper Camp, conveniently located near the waygate. This location is filled with cages housing wolves and bears that drop the hides, allowing you to farm them all in one place instead of searching for them in the forests. Don't forget to explore the tents for barrels and chests, which typically contain leather and coarse thread.
Thick hide can be obtained from dogs and various creatures in all regions except Farbane Woods. For example, bears, moose and wolfs in the Hallowed Mountains drop them. Fish oil can be acquired in villages, or you can use blood press to convert fish into fish oil and fish bones.
Pristine hide is dropped by creatures in the Lurker Dwelling. Alternatively, you can pay a visit to Gracefall Village at night. During this time, you can eliminate the villagers when they transform into werewolves, and they drop a decent amount of hides. Ensure that you carry out this task at night, as they revert to their human form with the first rays of sunlight, resulting in human drops instead. This tactic works both ways, allowing you to weaken several villagers, wait for nightfall, and easily eliminate them in their werewolf form to obtain loot for free.
Silkworms can be found in the Spider Cave, where both spiders and cocoons drop them. Cocoons also contain various loot, and sometimes even people and spiders.

Fabricating & Advanced Smelting

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Gloomrot
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Silverlight Hills
To farm mutant grease and tech scrap in the new Gloomrot zone, you can take advantage of the ongoing battles between mutants and humans and collect their drops. These fights occur frequently near the radiated water, providing ample opportunities for gathering resources.
However, the most convenient area for farming is undoubtedly the Pools of Rebirth. Here, you'll encounter large groups of both factions engaged in combat, resulting in quick drop collection.
Another location worth exploring is Rustlock Village, where each house usually contains 1 to 3 containers filled with tech scrap, mutant grease, coins, and scrolls.
Tech scrap and depleted batteries can also be easily acquired in the Trancendum Camps, two of which are conveniently located near the waygates. Simply eliminate the guards and destroy the scrap piles, but exercise caution as some of them may explode.
Gold jewelry can be obtained in Brighthaven, either from chests found in human form or from enemies. However, beware that these enemies are the most formidable foes in the game.

Grinding

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Farbane Woods
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Dunley Farmlands
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Silverlight Hills
Bones, mourning lilies, and the occasional gravedust are abundant in the Forgotten Cemetery or Infested Graveyard. Make sure to thoroughly search graves and containers, as they often hold valuable items. As a bonus, some graves may reveal rats!
Regular gems can be mined in the Bedrock Pass, as it boasts numerous veins rich in precious stones.
For flawless gems, venture into the veins of the two Harpy Nests located in Silverlight Hills. However, prepare yourself for tough battles, as these areas are infested with angry mobs!
Ghost crystals can be obtained by mining nodes in the Cursed or Ancient Village, both of which offer a plentiful supply. Additionally, spectral dust and other valuable drops can be acquired from mobs or found in containers throughout these locations.

Planting

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Farbane woods
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Dunley Farmlands
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Gloomrot and Cursed Forest
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Silverlight Hills
The Gleaming Meadows is undoubtedly the best location to gather fire blossoms, blood roses, and snow flowers. You'll find an abundance of them there!
Hell's clarions can be found in Bear Cave, as well as in various mines such as the Copper Mine and Haunted Iron Mine.
For cotton, wool, cloth, sunflowers, and the occasional valuable worker with good blood quality, follow a clockwise route through several farms starting from the waygate and ending at Dawnbreak Village. Wardrobes in these farms often hold copper and silver coins, books, fish oil, and much more. When harvesting crops, it's advisable to use area-of-effect attacks to collect multiple plants simultaneously.
Some farms have garlic protection, which may debuff your vampire, but you can mitigate this by using bear form, increasing your garlic resistance and allowing for faster recovery. Alternatively, you can craft a garlic resistance brew once you've learned the recipe.
Witch huts offer a supply of ghost shrooms.
Sacred Grapes can be found in the Brighthaven Vineyards. You can either cut them from the vines or collect them from containers.
Plague briers are found in the woods of Gloomrot.
However, the most convenient farming spot for plants is your own garden. Simply plant the seeds and easily harvest the plants!
Utilize excess plants as a source of pollen, which can then be converted into coarse threads.

Studying

You can obtain paper by farming Bandit Camps, scrolls by looting Militia Encampments and Rustlock Village, and schematics by searching Army Outposts.
However, keep in mind that you already acquire sawdust from processing wood.
By combining sawdust with plant fiber in a paper press, you can efficiently produce paper, which serves as a great farming method. Once you have paper, it can be further converted into scrolls. And if you have a surplus of scrolls, they can be converted into schematics.

Additional Tips

You can construct tombs and vermin nests in order to cultivate certain resources such as silkworms, mutant grease, or scourgestones within your stronghold. However, it's important to note that this method requires the expenditure of other resources, so it's not the same as acquiring them freely in their respective zones.
Additionally, you have the option to dispatch your servants on raids, which can yield a substantial amount of resources in the background. Nonetheless, it's important to remember that these operations are time-consuming and limited to one active raid per zone.
Resource farming becomes significantly easier when you have a worker with a decent blood type. If you happen to have a worker with less than 100% blood quality, you can improve it by feeding them irradiant gruel. This will boost their blood quality by 1% or 2%.
However, it's important to note that there is a 35% probability that your prisoner may undergo a mutation when using this method. So, there is a certain element of risk involved, and you'll need to weigh the potential benefits against the possibility of a mutation.
In the endgame, an alternative to blood extraction is using blood merlot. This option consumes fewer health points and induces less misery, making it a worthwhile choice for acquiring blood resources.

Conclusion

I hope with this spotlight you have achieved what you were aiming for today!
If you want to watch more guides, they can be found on my YouTube channel! I'm doing my best to create guides on both YouTube and Reddit, but I have a full-time job, so it's a bit hard to keep up with everything :(
Anyway, thank you for reading up to this point, and see you later!

Preface: I wrote this post before I learned that the user The_Dawn_Will_Come reached the same primary conclusion a while ago. Still, the post I'd written contained some other connected ideas that I think could be interesting, and which help expand the theory a bit.
A fairly common pattern seen throughout the game's architecture is the quatrefoil, which some have alternatively described as a clover. Sinister Stromboli has catalogued a number of locations it's found in, including Liurnia and Raya Lucaria, Stormveil, and Farum Azula. It is also found in Elphael, and in many of the larger undestroyed churches, including the Church of the Eclipse and the Redmane Castle church. Finally, it's also present in Liurnia's Temple Quarter.
quatrefoil symbol on the stained glass window, and above the statue's head
After seeing a post that referred to the core structure of the Farum Azula Elden Ring as a clover shape, I realized the two patterns were the same. I'd recently been thinking more about this core structure, but it was the word 'clover' that more immediately stood out to me and helped me understand the congruence of the two shapes.
Farum Azula's Elden Ring
If the quatrefoil is the earlier version of the Elden Ring, it makes sense that we'd see it in Farum Azula, which contains the older Elden Ring depiction. This is some of the strongest evidence that the two symbols are meant to be associated. It's also not surprising that we find it in Stormveil, which took a number of motifs and ideas from Farum Azula.
The presence of the symbol in Raya Lucaria probably has to do with the Four Belfries, but I think the symbolism of the Four Belfries could in turn be descended from Farum Azula.
All of the locations accessed by the Belfries' waygates can be narratively connected to the Crucible in some way. Farum Azula of course has the Farum Azula Elden Ring, which has been theorized to be the Elden Ring of the Crucible age. The Precipice of Anticipation is linked to the Crucible through the Golden Lineage and Godfrey, who led the Crucible Knights. And we find one of these Crucible Knights on the other end of the last waygate, to Nokron.
There are more connections to the Crucible. The four torches at each belfry are the same kind used before the Grand Lift of Rold, which is guarded by a Black Blade Kindred and leads to the Forge of the Giants (a crucible) and Farum Azula. (These torches are also the bottom portion of the post caps in upper Leyndell, which I have written about elsewhere.) Moreover, the belfries have reliefs of the ancient dynast on them, who was probably a prophet of the Crucible. Surrounding the dynast are roots/branches, which in addition to the dynast's statues, are also found in the Farum Azula Elden Ring.
ancient dynast in one of the four belfries
Nameless Singer referred to the central structure of Farum Azula's Elden Ring as a diamond, and noticed an identical arrangement of rings on the tiles of the main connecting road in the Lands Between, which they called the Goldroad. This road has the same purpose as the Four Belfries: to connect the rest of the world to the Lands Between, and unify them. The word 'diamond' is also fitting, because the Four Belfries connect the "four corners of the Earth", and a diamond has four corners.
In some versions of the quatrefoil, like this one in Raya Lucaria, the quatrefoil is surrounded by an actual diamond.
There are some other interesting parallels between Liurnia and Farum Azula. Both are "castles in the sky": Farum Azula is literally a floating castle, and Raya Lucaria looks like one with the reduction in the water level. Both have something to do with the color blue: Liurnia has water, and Farum Azula is in the sky (Azula). Both locations are linked with the elevation of consciousness: Raya Lucaria with education and study, and Farum Azula with the evolution from beast to man. Next, if you look on the map, the bridge to Ranni's divine tower seems to point to Farum Azula. This is also true for Stormveil's divine bridge—and Stormveil of course is linked to Farum Azula in many ways. Finally, both Farum Azula and Raya Lucaria are associated with light: Farum Azula is the seat of the sun, and 'Lucaria' could be interpreted as meaning "light".
[Tangent: the ancient dynast arguably represents both causality and regression. The Four Belfries expanded the scope of the Crucible civilization through the waygates, but also probably through the infiltration of the Crucible's roots throughout the Lands Between. Expansion and growth are manifestations of Causality, as demonstrated in the Law of Causality incantation. Yet the dynast also symbolizes regression, since he is "returning to the roots". Thus, it could be said that the Crucible had the same principles as Golden Order Fundamentalism, and that it was not a purely regressive force.]
The quatrefoil's presence in Castle Sol can be explained by the culture's strong ties to Stormveil, and I think the same is true of Redmane Castle. The Redmanes imitated Godfrey in various ways, including in the architecture and symbols they used. I don't think Fort Gael would be named such (or contain lions) were it not for Stormveil's influence. As proof the castle is taking inspiration from Stormveil, you can find a stormhawk depicted on Jerren's chair, and the chair found beside the lift leading to Radahn.
chair by the lift to Radahn
All of the churches mentioned share the same stained glass windows. At the top of each window is the quatrefoil symbol which is not part of the glass, but is sitting atop and in front of it. Its placement at the top of the windows would suggest it's of great religious importance.
Edit: the fact that a very similar overlay is found in Raya Lucaria's stained glass, which has different designs in the glass itself, is counterevidence for the interpretation above. If the quatrefoil isn't surrounding a unique shape, it might not have a unique meaning. I'll include pictures of the Raya Lucaria stained glass toward the bottom of this post.
This picture is from the Redmane church. The stained glass integrates a number of aesthetics important in Elden Ring: the \"stain\" is color, and the colors are illuminated by light, which is associated with the Elden Ring, the Greater Will, etc.
Below the symbol on the left and right are two similar shapes which look more like the modern Elden Ring. Altogether this could represent how the modern Elden Ring is descended from the original, like in a family tree. Or it could be showing how the original ring is superior, since it's sort of propped up by the other two. Another idea is that it's showing the original Elden Ring as the pinnacle and yet a component of the modern ring, since the three patterns create a triangular shape, similar to the shape of the current Elden Ring itself.
Even more interesting, in my opinion, is the stained glass design framed by the quatrefoil: in the windows of the Stormveil churches, Church of the Eclipse, and Redmane Castle church, the quatrefoil surrounds a depiction of the sun. This is strong evidence that the symbol is indeed linked to the Farum Azula Elden Ring, because again, Farum Azula is the seat of the sun.
I've also speculated the quatrefoil could explain the non-aggression symbol found in these churches (on the left side of the screen) and in a few other locations, and that this symbol could also be a representation of the sun. While I don't remember every location this symbol appears in, all the examples I can think of could be linked to Stormveil or Stormveil-adjacent imagery. For example, the Roundtable Hold is based on the Fortified Manor, which uses Stormveil architecture. Another example is Pidia's church, which does not have the stained glass windows but nonetheless has the quatrefoil on the sides of the pews, and a bisected version of it on the walls.
Curiously, this room also has the same ceiling pendants as the Roundtable Hold.
Another location the quatrefoil is found in is Elphael. To put it succintly, I think the symbol is present here because the Haligtree is in many ways a return to the Crucible.
https://preview.redd.it/ljcyhg8n9j2b1.jpg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a39f1afc819cead088d9f198f0e2da0ef4a0c5a9
The quatrefoil was used in previous FromSoft titles, namely Dark Souls III and Bloodborne. In these games the pattern was also used on churches. It wasn't just this symbol either; the surrounding designs on the church doors were reused as well. However, I don't think this entails that the symbol has no unique meaning in Elden Ring. I don't believe the developers would use a symbol that matches the game's namesake (especially when the game is about symbols) unintentionally, or in contradiction.
It's possible, for example, that the Farum Azula Elden Ring was based on the preeexisting quatrefoil texture.
identical symbols on the church architecture in Bloodborne
In the picture above you can see the same pattern as in Elden Ring, with the trifoil on the lower left and right, and the quatrefoil above and between them. What I said about the quatrefoil not being used carelessly is probably even truer in the case of the trifoil, since the trifoil resembles the current Elden Ring, and is thus an even more important symbol than the Farum Azula version.
The fact that both these patterns weren't just copied, but iterated in architecturally novel ways (like in the picture below) would suggest there's not only meaning behind the trifoil and quatrefoil, but their placement and positioning to each other, as well.
quatrefoil and trifoils in Farum Azula, right outside Maliketh's room with the ancient Elden Ring
Below are the Raya Lucaria windows I mentioned earlier.
in the elevator entrance to Raya Lucaria
For the above screenshot, I'd like to point out that the quatrefoil contains blue and gold, which are two colors associated with Farum Azula. This pairing can be seen in the Bestial Sanctum, and on the beastmen. Perhaps these colors also symbolize the marriage of Radagon (gold) and Rennala (blue). The blue and gold triangles together form a larger triangle, so they could be described as "two halves making a whole".
in the Church of the Cuckoo
I have no explanation for this one (the screenshot above). This sort of makes it look like the Farum Azula Elden Ring is being made subservient to a different order entirely, since now the quatrefoils are below and a new design (though related) is on top.
Endnotes on related symbols: I'm thinking that the symbol below could be a representation of the six equally sized great runes in the current Elden Ring—so excluding the Great Rune of the Unborn. I guess that doesn't make a lot of sense for Raya Lucaria, since this is where we obtain the Great Rune of the Unborn, but then again, Rennala probably received the amber egg long after Raya Lucaria was built. Another possibility is that the pattern symbolizes the six divine towers.
from the elevator entrance to Raya Lucaria
This pattern can be found in the outdoor sections within Raya Lucaria.
Likewise, the symbol in the picture above could potentially be a representation of all eight usable great runes. If you continue the pattern all the way around the missing half of the circle, I believe you'd end up with an octofoil. However, I should note this same pattern is found in Elphael, which might be counterevidence for this view. I say this because Miquella clearly wants a change to the current order; so if the current order has eight usable great runes, it wouldn't make sense for him to depict these in Elphael.
For the sake of comprehensiveness, I've included a picture from inside the church at the Night's Sacred Ground in Nokron. The floor has a pattern that sort of resembles the quatrefoil shown in the pictures above.
church in Night's Sacred Ground
Updates (5/31/23): After thinking some more about it, I realized how interesting it would be for the Elden Ring to be based on the preexisting quatrefoils, because it would mean FromSoft took religious inspiration from their own creations. This could tie into miirshroom's idea that the game Elden Ring is a crucible containing elements from FromSoft's previous works.
If Elden Ring is about taking things from the past and putting them together, and the emergence of the present and future from the past, it would be perfectly in keeping with this for the developers to look at their earlier works for symbols, and use those symbols as the template on which to grow (or graft) Elden Ring. So I think that not only was the reuse of assets intentional when designing the Elden Ring, it's arguably a demonstration of the game's core idea.
The same could be said of Elden Ring's other reuse of assets. Every reused animation could be justified as relating back to the game's themes of emergence and convergence.
On the the second Raya Lucaria window: the design at the top should logically have something to do with the Primeval Current, since as I've recently written about, the Church of the Cuckoo is used to show devotion to it. Maybe the symbol could be a depicting a graven mass? The pattern kind of looks like four simplistic humanoid figures (just their head and torso) pointing up, right, left and down, like a bunch of sorcerers grafted together.
Links:
-Thumbnail: https://imgur.com/a/XwiPbnc
-The_Dawn_Will_Come's comment on the quatrefoil, on Jygglewag's post which pulls out the quatrefoil from the Farum Azula Elden Ring (called "I broke down Farum Azula's elden ring so we can discuss it in detail"): https://www.reddit.com/EldenRingLoreTalk/comments/yyrqc1/comment/iwwfef6/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
-My first post on the torches at the Four Belfries and Grand Lift of Rold: https://www.reddit.com/EldenRingLoreTalk/comments/11b1txs/counterfire_symbolism_in_leyndell_fake_candles/