Pickaxe & Ore Progression
Mining is gated: each ore needs a pickaxe with enough pickaxe power to break it. Knowing the ladder saves you from digging to a vein you can't touch yet.
How pickaxe power works
Every pickaxe has a pickaxe power percentage, and every ore has a minimum power needed to mine it. If your pickaxe's power is too low, the block simply won't break — you need the next tier up.
The tier ladder
- 1Copper/Tin pickaxe — the starting tools, enough for early ores and stone.
- 2Iron/Lead, then Gold/Platinum — work down to the deeper pre-Hardmode ores.
- 3Molten Pickaxe (Hellstone) — the last pre-Hardmode tier, needed to mine Cobalt/Palladium.
- 4Cobalt → Mythril → Adamantite drills/pickaxes — each Hardmode tier unlocks the next ore.
- 5Pickaxe Axe / Drax (post-mechanical bosses), then Picksaw from Golem, and finally the Lunar pickaxes for everything.
Hellstone itself needs a Nightmare or Deathbringer Pickaxe (from your world evil) to mine — make one before heading to the Underworld for Molten gear.
FAQ
What pickaxe do I need to mine Hellstone?
A Nightmare Pickaxe or Deathbringer Pickaxe, crafted from the demonite/crimtane and shadow/tissue materials of your world's evil biome. Copper through gold pickaxes can't break Hellstone.
What is the mining order in Terraria?
Copper/Tin → Iron/Lead → Silver/Tungsten → Gold/Platinum → Nightmare/Deathbringer → Molten, then in Hardmode: Cobalt/Palladium → Mythril/Orichalcum → Adamantite/Titanium → the post-boss drills and Lunar pickaxes.