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Calcite Caverns

The Calcite Caverns are a timed mine that unlocks at Level 100. Your time inside is rationed daily, so every minute counts. Open it from the warp menu like any other mine, but go in ready for a fight: PvP is on, and dying inside drops your inventory. Your pickaxe and satchels are always kept, but their contents spill.

What you mine for

Break calcite for XP, Ancient Energy and money, and hunt for the Calcite Key Components you need to forge a Cavernheart key.

  • Calcite sells for $10.94 per block, which makes a full run one of the strongest money earners in the game. (See Ore Values for the rest.)
  • Calcite Key Components drop rarely while mining here. Collect the set, then combine them into the key. A component expires 60 minutes after you get it, so don't sit on one.
  • Amethyst clusters and pearlescent froglights grow down here on their own timers. Froglights can only be mined inside the Calcite Caverns.

Finding your way

The caverns are lit, with a Miners' Road of 62 landmarks and named halls to steer by. The west side is an old Greek marble quarry and the east side old miners' workings. The portal to Cavernheart sits under the Great Shaft.

The routes changed for Map 4. Cave-ins close some old tunnels and new galleries open others, so the way you knew may not work any more.

Climbing walls block the main ways. You climb a wall by placing froglights against it:

  • Every climbing wall on the main ways takes 3 to 5 froglights.
  • The final climb to the portal takes 5.
  • A froglight takes 10 seconds to mine and regrows 30 seconds later. A placed froglight vanishes after 5 seconds, so place them quickly.

Cavernheart and the Calcite Wormhole

The Cavernheart key opens the portal. Past it is Cavernheart, rebuilt for Map 4 as a giant amethyst geode inside an old salt mine. A miners' cage lowers you down the shaft on arrival and carries you back up to spawn when you leave. The ride does not use Calcite time. If your time runs out while you are down there, the cage takes you up and you go to spawn.

At the heart of the geode sits the Calcite Wormhole, the only place Calcite Enchants are rolled. Drop an Ancient pickaxe, gear piece or weapon in for free, pick an enchant, and pay for the attempt in Ancient Energy.

  • Attempts on armour, weapons, wands and bows cost more than on pickaxes, and the price climbs steeply after level II. Pickaxe costs are unchanged.
  • Calcified Dust raises your odds, up to 10% per session.

Your daily time budget

Time in the caverns is rationed per day, and your allowance grows or shrinks based on how much you mine:

  • You start with 10 minutes per day.
  • Hit the daily block threshold and your allowance goes up by 3 minutes; miss it and it goes down.
  • Your time can fall no lower than a 10-minute floor and rise no higher than a 30-minute cap. Every rank above Kindling raises that cap by one minute, to 35 minutes at Everflame. A rank moves the ceiling, not your current allowance.
  • From Prestige 1, your allowance counts as 25% more, up to your cap.

Run /calcitecaverns to check your current threshold and how much time you have left.

The Chronostone pickaxe enchant can hand you bonus calcite time for blocks you break in here, capped per day. That bonus goes on top of the cap. Chronostone is found by mining the Calcite Caverns.

The Drifter outpost major is the caverns buff. While your gang holds it, amethyst clusters respawn 50% faster down here, Calcite Key Components drop 30% more often, calcite enchant attempts cost 33% less, and ore respawns 2x faster wherever you mine.

Version history

v4.0.0 (Map 4)

  • The Calcite Caverns are lit, with a Miners' Road of 62 landmarks, named halls, and the portal to Cavernheart under the Great Shaft.
  • The ways through have changed: cave-ins close some old tunnels and new galleries open others. Every climbing wall on the main ways takes 3 to 5 froglights, and the portal takes 5.
  • Cavernheart is rebuilt as a giant amethyst geode in a salt mine, with the Calcite Wormhole inside. A miners' cage takes you down and back up to spawn, and the ride does not use Calcite time.
  • Calcite Wormhole attempts on armour, weapons, wands and bows cost more. Pickaxes are unchanged.
  • Calcified Dust boost per session is now capped at 10%, up from 5%.
  • Chronostone is now a Special pickaxe enchant instead of a pickaxe trim.

v3.0.0

  • Pearlescent froglights can now only be mined inside the Calcite Caverns.
  • The Calcite Wormhole now enchants items directly. Calcite Charges are gone, and attempts are paid for in Ancient Energy. See Calcite Enchants.
  • The Drifter outpost buff now grants 33% less calcite enchant attempt cost instead of more charge drops, and adds 50% more amethyst cluster respawn rate down here.
  • Your pickaxe and satchels are no longer lost on death here. White Scrolls are gone. Their contents still spill.

v2.0.0

  • The daily time swing is now +/-3 minutes (was +/-4), and the block threshold to earn the gain is 20% higher.
  • Calcite now sells for 2x more ($10.94 per block).
  • Calcite Key Components are now 4x rarer, making the Cavernheart Key harder to craft.