Mining

Mining is the core loop of Ancients, and every ore you break pays you three ways at once.

• Money, handed to you as a Money Note item.
• Ancient Energy, banked straight into the pickaxe you're holding.
• Level XP, the main way to climb your level.

Ore is auto-sold the instant you break it, and the cash arrives as a Money Note you right-click in a safe zone to claim. The old 15% sell tax on mining outside a safe zone is gone: a Money Note holds the full sale value wherever you mined it. See Selling & the Shop for how payouts and the shop work.

The energy each block gives is stored inside your pickaxe. You can /extract it as carryable orbs, or feed it to the Wormhole to level and enchant the pickaxe.

What you need to mine

Each ore tier needs a good enough pickaxe and a region that allows it. Higher-tier ores pay more money, Ancient Energy and XP per block, and deepslate variants are worth a little more than the regular block. The full breakdown lives in Ore Values & Respawn Times.

Mining is also the primary way to raise your level, which unlocks new mines and areas (/levels). XP stops once you hit the current cap (/levelcap) until the cap rises, but mining at the cap pays 50% increased Ancient Energy, so capped time is never wasted time.

PvP is on everywhere except safe zones: spawn and each mine's warp arrival platform. Step off the pad and you're fair game.

Mining speed

A fresh, unenchanted pickaxe takes a while to break each block, so Mining Speed boosts matter. Every increased Mining Speed source sums into one additive pool, and speed tops out at one tick per block. Full breakdown on Mining Speed.

Bonuses pay what they say

Shard and ore bonuses give exactly their stated amount. A 5% shard bonus is 5% more shards on average, and a small ore bonus adds its share on average instead of rounding up to a whole extra ore.

Run /buffs to see what your mining really pays, source by source: ore, energy, XP, the real shard chance, jewels, Orb of Moros bonuses and your mining speed.

In this section

These pages cover the rest of the loop: the mines themselves, what each ore is worth, your pickaxe, meteors crashing in for richer ore, Excavation finds, and the timed Calcite Caverns money run. Currencies explains money and energy in depth.

Version history

v4.0.0 (Map 4)

• Every pickaxe mines faster before enchants, and mining speed now tops out at one tick per block.
• Shard and ore bonuses now give their stated amount: a 5% shard bonus is 5% more shards on average, not double, and small ore bonuses no longer round up to a whole extra ore.
• /buffs shows what mining really pays, including jewels, the real shard chance and your Orb of Moros bonuses.
• New: Excavation finds while mining.
• Mining sends far less network traffic, which fixes lag and disconnects on slow connections.

v3.0.0

• The 15% sell tax is gone. Money Notes from mining outside a safe zone now hold the full sale value.
• Every increased Mining Speed source now pools additively instead of multiplying.
• Mining at your level cap, or at the max level for your prestige, again gives 50% increased Ancient Energy.

v2.0.0

• Base mining is now slower across the board — a fresh, unenchanted pickaxe takes noticeably longer to break each block.
• Calcite now sells for 2x more ($5.47 -> $10.94 per block), making Calcite Caverns a far stronger money run.