A fresh, unenchanted pickaxe takes a while to break each block. The base break time is 2000ms per block, and you build toward insta-mining by stacking speed sources.
How break time is calculated
Break time is the base time divided by your total speed, and that speed is built in layers:
speed = pickaxe base x (1 + all increased Mining Speed) x Molt
Since Map 4 every pickaxe has the same, higher base speed. That base already holds most of what Efficiency V used to add, so Efficiency now shows a smaller number (40% increased at V). Break times with Efficiency V or higher are the same as before. A pickaxe with no Efficiency mines faster than it used to.
Every increased Mining Speed source pools into a single additive total. Three sources worth 20% each are one 60% increase, not three multipliers. Each source enters the pool at exactly the number its item text states. What feeds the pool:
- Efficiency: 8% per level up to 40% at V, and 75% at Efficiency VI.
- Prismatic Efficiency: builds on Efficiency VI's 75%, 20% more per level. See pickaxe enchants.
- Momentum: speed that ramps the longer you keep mining and decays when you stop. 10% per level at full ramp, and 80% at Momentum VI.
- Pickaxe prestige Mining Speed: the base stat from Pickaxe Prestige.
- Pickaxe and armour trims: every trim line that reads increased mining speed.
- Hermes' Pace: the mining-speed armour enchant, 5% per level.
- Orb of Moros implicits, of Haste jewels, pets and rift pickaxe upgrades.
- Emberfall, on meteorites only.
The only more multiplier is the Lamia set's Molt burst, which stacks on top of the pool while it's active.
Increased is additive and shares one pool; more is its own multiplier. This is the same wording the rest of the server uses.
The speed cap
Mining speed tops out at one tick per block (50ms). Past that, more speed does nothing. /buffs shows at speed cap when you reach it.
/buffs (also /pickbuffs) reports the real number the server uses, broken down by source, along with your current break time per block.
Mining above your tier
The ore you're swinging at matters as much as your speed. Pickaxes are built to break a normal range of ore tiers:
- One tier up: minable once you qualify for it, but slower (roughly 1.8x the break time).
- Far above your tier: a heavy slow penalty applies instead of the swing failing. Ores well beyond your range are effectively unmineable until you upgrade.
If mining suddenly feels very slow, check whether you've wandered into ore your pickaxe isn't ready for.
See Mining for how the whole loop fits together.
Version history
v4.0.0 (Map 4)
- Every pickaxe mines faster before enchants, so Efficiency shows a smaller number (40% increased at V). Break times with Efficiency V or higher are unchanged.
- Efficiency VI gives 75% increased mining speed. Momentum VI gives 80% (was 75%) and Hermes' Pace 5% per level (was 6%).
- Mining speed tops out at one tick per block, and
/buffsshows at speed cap when you reach it.
v3.0.0
- Every increased Mining Speed source now sums into one additive pool instead of multiplying together — Efficiency, Prismatic Efficiency, Momentum, pickaxe prestige, pickaxe and armour trims, Hermes' Pace, Orb of Moros, jewels and rift pickaxe upgrades all share it.
- The Lamia set's Molt burst is now the only more Mining Speed multiplier, and stacks on top of the pool.
- The of Haste jewel now actually speeds up mining.
- /pickbuffs now reports the same mining speed number the server actually uses.
v2.0.0
- Base mining is now slower across the board — a fresh, unenchanted pickaxe takes noticeably longer per block, so Efficiency, Momentum, Prismatic Efficiency and the new Hermes' Pace armour enchant matter again.