The Comprehensive Guide to Mining

Crouching pickaxe, hidden mouse.
0:00 Intro
0:24 Mining speed explanation
0:56 Sources of mining speed
2:55 Builds to maximize mining speed
3:15 Reforges
4:09 When to use light vs legendary
4:38 The fastest pickaxe(s)
5:32 Pickaxe power
7:04 Prehardmode pickaxe ranking
8:11 Prehardmode pickaxe comparisons with buffs
9:48 FTW/GFB mining differences
10:24 Drills vs pickaxes, aka drills are coded wrong
11:43 Late hardmode pickaxe analysis
13:00 Hardmode ftw mining differences
13:12 Finding treasure
13:16 Spelunker potions
13:32 Farming herbs effectively
14:40 Finding treasure without spelunker potions (night owl, glowsticks, starfury, etc)
15:38 Using the metal detector effectively
16:30 What treasure is worth getting?
17:19 Mushroom chests do not have the shroomerang
18:35 Ivy chests don't always have jungle items
18:55 Unique background treasure to keep an eye out for
20:32 Silt and slush
21:01 Is it worth mining prehardmode ores?
21:39 Default vs alternate ores
22:06 Prehardmode ore analysis
23:54 How to mine hellstone effectively
24:20 Hardmode ore generation
25:12 Default vs alternate hardmode ores
26:04 Hardmode ore armors
26:53 Is it worth mining hardmode ores?
27:42 Gemstones
29:52 Distinguishing gems with a spelunker potion
30:23 Mining in the underground desert
30:46 Desert chest loot generation is depth based
32:57 Mining in the snow biome
34:40 Mining in the jungle
36:21 Mining in the standard underground
37:00 Special biomes in the underground
37:34 In-depth look at how treasure is distributed in the world
41:12 Five observations about loot generation
42:27 Traps
43:25 Dart traps
44:08 Boulder traps
45:20 Explosive traps
46:19 Statue traps
47:09 Dead man's chests
48:17 Underground desert traps
49:49 Geysers and Lava traps
51:17 Mining faster with alternative tools
51:27 Dynamite and bombs
52:42 Gravedigger's Shovel
53:30 Rocket launchers
55:14 Drill containment unit
55:38 What is the fastest way to mine?
Decided I would try going in depth on a topic that's a bit more basic. Depending on the reception to this video, I may make it into a series.
For early access to videos, exclusive content, voting on stream games, and to help me be able to make content, join / sorbetcafe
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#terraria #gaming

[@krafuae]

Holy hell, 57 whole minutes of pure expert's knowledge. Sorbet's guides are treasure.

[@0Lvs1]

I broke the 666 likes curse np

[@r4gn4r0k69]

new response just dropped

[@Crux___]

It baffles me that I can’t sit through like 30 minutes worth of instructional content for school, but I’ll gladly watch and take notes on mining in Terraria for a whole hour

[@Deceit-hx7ey]

huge difference when you have to do something and when you want to do something.

[@tristanridley1601]

@@Deceit-hx7ey I think you just described why unschooling-type homeschooling can work.

[@eagjdhx9d282]

It is because schools suck at teaching things we want to learn

[@mr.cauliflower3536]

Because Sorbet is a great teacher.

[@birb9799]

ADHD moment

[@gassug2]

20:53 i was expecting you to say "this strategy also works in minecraft" which isn't wrong, but it's so irrelevant that it's hilarious

[@Fluxuation]

same lol

[@undeniablySomeGuy]

it's weird that it does though

[@vax.8491]

boards of canada mentioned

[@mythmakroxymore1670]

Congratz on 420 likes my friend

[@saimGX]

@@vax.8491olson holds a special place in my heart

[@lahiruerangafile]

Didn't expect a 57 min video when you said you're making a mining guide, gonna watch the whole thing

[@sorbetcafe]

it was originally like 30 minutes but I didn’t like that version

[@imperialorder2417]

do moar guides i beseech thee@@sorbetcafe

[@Shyguymask]

1:04 I regularly rush the Ancient Chisel and I never knew this. I'll make use of this in future playthroughs, thanks!

[@mustachioisbae]

Bit of a random reply, but thank you for introducing me to crosscode, it's one of my all time favourite games and I probably wouldn't have ever found it if it weren't for you.

[@fur_avery]

exactly the same for me, ancien chisel is one of the first accessories I try to get yet I somehow never knew that, will help a lot in the future

[@damnthisisabadname]

​@@mustachioisbaeagree

[@jake_from_statefarm7209]

I'm playing starlight river right now and have found like three conch shells but no other desert loot and I'm beginning to wonder if it's the mod or the seed 😂 I just want my chisel!

[@Chewythebigblackdog]

Another thing to add about herb farming: you actually can still get the staff/axe of regrowth's effect when using planter boxes, you just need actuators. As long as you are holding the staff/axe when flipping the lever (or other activation mechanism) to actuate the boxes, seeds will drop even if the herbs are not blooming. Just like when using blocks, you still need to wait until the herbs are fully grown, so only flip the lever when a majority of your herbs are ready for harvest.

[@Drie_Kleuren]

15:30 maybe you mention it later, but you can also use the housing '' ? '' and spam that in a dessert. This will give a message in chat for when you hit a cave or a pyramid because it will say '' this room needs a light source '' or something. very usefull for finding pyramids....

[@Ayrevaa]

one thing about sand traps. if you're too stubborn to recall and you can't tank the sand, break the sand from the top down and you wont take damage from extra sand. thanks for highlighting the importance of the underground desert. i always thought the underground desert experience was overtuned, but now i can see how it's useful ^^

[@FadeScratch]

24:18 for hellstone mining, there is a pretty effective way to mine for it when you are lazy and don't have obsidian skin potions - just go around the walls of fortresses and mine for veins of hellstone that generate near them.

[@HumanoidDerpling]

I absolutely adore that there are people nerdy and dedicated enough about video games to make such long and in-depth videos about this type of thing. Reminds me of Voduke's "Ranking every Kingdom Rush hero from worst to best" in that regard. It's a rather slim chance you'll recognize that though, haha.

[@patheticbread6861]

I do!

[@novinovi-]

I know what kingdom rush is and now I need this video thank you internet friend for showing me that this exists

[@HumanoidDerpling]

@@novinovi- I did not expect that, you're very welcome.

[@TheHaboo]

The funnier part about drills is that they are even more bugged or exploitable than just that. Mining buffs apply to drills if you use block replacement with it, unpractical but has niche uses in speedruns as we do craft drills for hardmode ores. Also on top of that from how I understand it because drills have a super low use time unlike pickaxes if you spam click (I'm talking +10cps) you can make them mine faster than normal. If you want to see an example go to Afroman's recent ML WR and around the 25m mark he does it to get some mythril ore. Does any of this matter in a non-speedrun context, no it doesn't. But it's funny to know!

[@sorbetcafe]

yeah, I had played around with the blockswapping platforms thing, it was just so incredibly niche that I didn’t feel like it made the cut. It gets bottlenecked by placement speed, so it’s pretty much only applicable for things you don’t break in one hit.

[@teckworks]

Huh...this randomly appeared in my recommended, and it actually taught me that drills are borked. I knew I wasn't crazy preferring picks over drills, even if my friends say otherwise. Nice vid~ 👌

[@jacobgalinski2948]

The only non clickbait, in depth, thorough and fully thought out investigation into the science of mining in Terraria Amazing video

[@purplehaze2358]

The thunder zapper is actually pretty decent. It out-DPS-es the diamond staff in a lot of situations.

[@fredygallegos1679]

I'll be honest, I probably won't see this thing but got it in my feed. If bro made a 1h video on mining, he def deserves like and comment.

[@RZBAKA]

7:40 another reason to pick crimson

[@damnthisisabadname]

"but you don't understand, casually no one gets mining gear or reforges" - svings probably

[@damnthisisabadname]

Real ones knew this was gonna be an hour long Can't wait to spend 1 hour watching this

[@purplehaze2358]

I wouldn't say that exquisitely stuffed should be completely out of the question when discussing mining buffs. You can get a basically unlimited supply of it by abusing pigronatas and the bacon that drops from them.

[@Psuedonym-go9jj]

13:45 It's worth noting that you can do this for every other plant in the game. Doesn't matter if it's blooming, as long as it's mature you can hit it with the rod and get seeds back.

[@sorbetcafe]

you can, yeah, it's just only really useful for deathweed and blinkroot since other herbs bloom consistently

[@Psuedonym-go9jj]

@@sorbetcafe Definitely also good for shiverthorn and definitely worth mentioning in the video. But that's kind of nitpicky.

[@Abde473]

pro tip : use a gravedigger shovel to explore the jungle early game, as the jungle is mainly composed of mud blocks (soft blocks), getting around will feel like cutting butter with a hot knife.

[@peanutbutterbean1738]

these tutorials are a godsend, so well made and just an hour of non stop information. was definitely worth the watch

[@b1oodzy]

"There's no way I'm watching a 57 minute video on mining" Already halfway done

[@FadeScratch]

32:25 hardmode underground desert contains one item I always farm for in my playthroughs - Ancient Horn that summons a rideable basilisk. I love this thing, it gives you the speed better than hermes boots, and very good turning control, something that the Unicorn mount can't provide. If I use the basilisk, I don't need a slot for hermes boots, therefore I can get more damage or defense. I can't stress enough how amazing the basilisk mount is.

[@sorbetcafe]

I think a lot of people prefer getting the wolf mount in 1.4.4, the two have similar functions

[@TechnoFreak1015]

I've played this game years and there is a lot of information I had no idea about in here. Fantastic job with your thorough explanation and attention to details!

[@CloutmasterPhluphyy]

Meanwhile me: hit block, get thing, be happy

[@alexandratsankova5825]

for 24:20 that is an incredible information to know, i did not know that the random corruption and hallow spread were removed, so i have been under that assumption for a while and since finding that out i had mostly been fishing for my hard mode ores as i was really not a fan of that mechanic 😅

[@Werewolf_32]

Best. Guide. Ever. Gonna be sending this to all my friends!

[@deroplat]

Your videos are so well made! Even though I'm a veteran of Terraria, I still find myself watching your videos all the way through. Keep it up!

[@savannaha5038]

I have 1.1k hours in this game and your guides have shown me new things and strategies i had no idea about! I can tell they'd also be very helpful for beginners too since you cover the basics as well, so i guess what i'm saying is you're pretty awesome, thanks for making these :P

[@SpiderJAAM]

Thanks for doing this great explanation videos. Please explain fishing next.

[@CloutmasterPhluphyy]

Now that one will be like 2 hrs long frr

[@ihatemondays33]

If I ever need iron, I usually just shimmer anvils that you can buy from the merchant. Really useful if you're making a giant railway

[@brandonbernard1570]

The underground enchanted sword spawn is crazy. I have hundreds of hours in Terraria and have never seen one spawn like that. Something strange about lava traps I only recently discovered is that they can spawn in the dungeon. I had 2 spawn in a recent world, and they seem like more of a hazard than spawning in caverns because navigation in the dungeon is a lot more limited, at least early in the game.

[@dacrystalcreeper7300]

This is legitimately the most well done Terraria video i’ve ever watched

[@lordgravity5668]

man when this guy says comprehensive he means it

[@tarragon111]

this guide is so good what the hell

[@Vic2point0]

As someone who's "OCD" about controlling where the water, honey and lava go in my world, the lava trap is actually the most terrifying one for me, lol.

[@Madalovin]

Sorbet, I wanna thank you for this high-effort long form highly edited content. This is a joy. This is my favorite kind of video to watch and hyper fixate on. Keep doin' what makes you happy.

[@icedt513]

okay it wasn't mentioned in the video, but Bone Torches also create larger light particles upon breaking than any other torch does, making it useful for a quick and easy way to see what's beneath you when mining underground (plus they're useful in general to have as they do not negatively affect torch luck, which is especially useful in biomes that have their own torch as regular torches will negate possible luck increases from biome torches but NOT from torch luck itself, which used to be the case when torch luck was first introduced)

[@wiresnstuff]

Hype hype, Sorbet cafe mining guide. Your videos are always very badass, excited to watch!!

[@goodpeanut8401]

How did i watch 57 minutes of pure knowledge about Mining and Had fun while doing so. Love your vids

[@XxguaxinimxX.]

This was amazing! I have no doubt you made a big research to make this video, but it was really worth it!

[@Shyguymask]

31:20 Hey, Storm Spear in particular is a very good weapon.

[@mango_lover2017]

i cant believe i'm still learning more about the game after 1000+ hours. Great guide. 👍

[@dramaticaloverload]

Never thought i would find scugs in a terraria mining video!

[@johncenajohnce4649]

just as I was about to start mining on a new playthrough this video comes out, thank you sorbet

[@itsmejb]

these videos are so lovely and well researched. im tapped out on terraria at the moment but i still love learning quirks of the game.

[@BlueTheSquid]

In all my hours of playing I never knew explosive traps existed. I had only ever seen explosives hooked up to dead man's chests and to detonators. Thank you for this info

[@gafoneo3727]

It's always a GREAT day when sorbet cafe uploads a long video on a terraria topic! Absolutely love your content

[@MarkTheDevourer]

Comprehensive is right! This is an awesome guide. always happy to see a new sorbet cafe video

[@zapduckcake5354]

I knew so much more than I thought, barely learned anything. Still great to get my knowlege confirmed. Great debth, great explenation, great vid.

[@purplehaze2358]

I'm not entirely sure I agree with the premise that the ice biome isn't worthwhile in hardmode. It has a fair few pretty damn decent weapons and a _really_ good accessory.

[@cloritic]

This is an extremely useful guide. Very well thorough, and incredibly helpful for me! ^_^

[@fur_avery]

one thing I would like to mention for the desert is that you can do the same edge of the screen trick (or edging if you want to be fancy) as you do with the metal detector but for the bast statues, the buff distance is (i think) the same as the metal detector range and it allows you to find cabins easily without needing either the detector or spelunker potion (note that not every cabin has a bast statue)

[@ow_shark9629]

I love edging

[@MTH6969]

57 minutes of pure gold.

[@elijahwaggoner545]

A hour long video on mining with hidden Easter eggs. Pog chanp

[@MasterVili]

Even as a veteran i still found this very interesting. I was captivated to watch almost like a documentary!

[@angiovanni7356]

I love comprehending swing tool at block=block break via a video format guide

[@tkienjoyer]

15:32 If you want to pyramid hunt just use the housing query on the bottom of your screen in the desert until it says "this room is too big"

[@Froggsroxx]

Who else HAS to grab every gem even though you dont even need them?

[@lukaerd6258]

pretty hilarious to see a character swing a pickaxe so goddamn quickly and still mine stupidly slow.

[@cdvoices]

New to the game, and it's amazing how much is in this game for how small it is. Hyped to play with my buddies and show off some of this learned knowledge.

[@Neoduem]

this was a really good video, i listened to it while playing

[@nitrovan]

31:12 Why is there a hamster in the zapper? Get him out!

[@parttimelazy4593]

Oh my gosh, this is EVERYTHING.

[@Renitky]

49:39 you can also break the sand from the top which makes it so that no sand falls on you and all the damage you take is the suffocation damage

[@JJ-sd4kb]

Guys if you're struggling to get major food buffs try buying pignatas from the party girl(only sold during parties) by using a discount card and having her in the hallow with the wizard you can actually profit by selling the other two items, they drop bacon at a low chance but you can get them for basically free it just takes a while to break all the pigs, hope this helped!

[@fur_avery]

one thing i would like to mention is that you can do a trick similar to the metal detector trick but with bast statues in the desert, if you see that you have the bast defense buff that means theres a cabin nearby and you can find it with the edge trick

[@EmiWi]

I've played this game for several years and never knew about lava traps, it's crazy how there's still things to discover even after this long.

[@alexisJonius]

This is what youtube is for. I love it!

[@_imfriendly95_67]

i just want to say that im so unbelievably mad that its called a pickaxe axe when an actual tool of that shape would just be called a pickaxe even though a pick is also called a pickaxe

[@gears4993]

when detailing the hardmode ore armour sets you had the spectre mask placed on the mannequin meant to display titanium armour, this was either you going by eye in the menus or you did it on purpose, anyway have a comment, great video, learned a lot

[@handyboy4178]

Holy shit this guide is so helpfull back when I used to play on my worlds mining speed buffs didnt even exist in my mind as I thought at most itd be 20% faster and just looked at wether or not the pickaxe speed was fast or not and that tip with the starfury ia so helpful I went from not finding a single life crystal in hours to almost maxing out by just swinging that around dark areas Mining actually became fun for me now

[@Taurmega]

Underground Desert in hardmode also has the Ancient Horn which I would also consider highly worthwhile, especially since it's helpful for all classes as opposed to the lamp. On that note the biome isn't really THAT bad if it isn't corrupted; it just becomes miserable when the desert spirits are involved. Otherwise the enemies are manageable, if a little punishing.

[@oddishthoughts]

Woo! Another top tier terraria guide

[@waffleman368]

Scugs are much appreciated!

[@mvl666_darkrio]

I never realized the snow biome underground stops at the lava layer, but it just makes sense

[@JibrilPC]

i love for the worthy, makes everything thats tedious go so quickly while not allowing you to rush through bosses like in expert, just the premier terraria experience. Also the shovel is good for mining jungle farm for bulbs and fruit, at any speed instantly so if you didnt like it now you can (ftw exclusive benefit)

[@SeanStClair-cr9jl]

Damn. I was expecting some unnecessary, kind of... "Hypixel-Skyblock-Esque" sorta thing, just outlining a basic progression without much help. This is awesome and gonna be transformative for the community

[@victorjohnson5646]

37:33 that world has the temple in the desert. that's pretty cool.

[@gammaboy4568]

7:45 "The molten pickaxe-" *grabs palladium pickaxe

[@RaidenKaiser]

Nice information i always assumed mining speed mostly affected damage dealt to blocks, i put violent on my mining accessories assuming it would help lol.

[@vanilla5488]

Wake up babe hour long video about mining in terraria just dropped

[@J_man-de5sw]

25:15 why did you put the specter mask where the titanium helmet should go? Great vid btw.

[@Akigahdam]

i think i just found the one piece almost an hour of a guide from a pro about mining? definitely the one piece of terraria

[@kreybud]

Speaking on the topic of traps, there's also a presure plate track which can randomly spawn on the abandonded track. Though they are very rare and are caused by generation overlap of trap and track, so i assume not many people encountered them in the first place

[@julienbronsch5039]

I had encountered 2 of them total in 4 different playthroughs. Well and I have a noTraps world where I found 4 of them in that single world

[@AndyVento]

Great vid thnx bro!

[@smooshymemes]

Thanks, now i can get my first and only tin ingot in 5 minutes of playtime instead of 10!

[@argon_the_hunter1655]

this was enjoyable

[@onionjack4533]

You can easily get fish to craft major food buffs by shimmering recall potions, which you get loads. I find it faster and better than planting pumpkins. Just get to the shimmer ASAP, it's incredibly useful earlygame if you take full advantage of it.

[@sorbetcafe]

unfortunately seafood dinners were nerfed in 1.4.4 to provide medium food buffs instead of major. You can do that instead of pumpkins, but they'll be equal to pumpkins, not better

[@jsnUej39hrsbOQmwJqw92bLgoP]

help I am being littered with actually useful terraria information

[@notIndecisive]

2:36 mouse in bottom right

[@notskrub7013]

Cool, but I still haven't forgiven the devs for completely destroying the reaver shark

[@ethanstewart8841]

I didn’t think minding could be so… interesting… I watched the whole video.

[@justahuman5514]

The speed of information speed is insane, way to high for my tiny brain. but still thank you for this guide.

[@ember_falls]

holy hell I hope they notice this and fix the drills lol

[@quantum6637]

Great video! Just one small question, do chainsaws/jackhammers suffer from the same coding issue as the drills?

[@sorbetcafe]

I'm not sure

[@quantum6637]

@@sorbetcafe I have an update! I did a simple test where I cut down 10 trees in my tree farm with a Light Axe of Regrowth vs a Sawtooth Shark. If the chainsaws had the same issue as drills, then these two would have equivalent speeds. However, it took ~4.923 seconds for the axe and ~4.158 seconds for the chainsaw. For the test I used smart cursor and I was always in range of the next tree due to the density of my tree farm. This wasn't super precise or frame by frame, but I did measure the times in recording software and the difference is big enough for me to conclude that the issue doesn't affect chainsaws. Quick Tree Math: Axe of Regrowth - Tool speed 12, light modifer 12 * .85 = 10.2, round down to 10. Axe power 150%, trees have 500% health, takes 4 hits. Should take 40 ticks to break. Sawtooth Shark - Tool speed 4. Axe power 70%, trees have 500% health, takes 8 hits. If the issue does exist, it should take 40 ticks, same as the axe. If the issue doesn't exist, it should take 32 ticks.

[@Nebula32152]

Fun fact hardmode ore generation is a perfect example of a harmonic series

[@RaidenX196]

The Spectre pickaxe is actually quite nice for builders admittedly, the slow speed means you can fine-tune things without blasting apart your build, and the added range is nice. Plus it's not quite as late in the game as the laser drill. I try and play around with building all throughout the duration of my playthroughs, so it's a bit of a breath of fresh air for some free extra range without getting into total endgame.

[@sorbetcafe]

the only boss between the spectre pickaxe being available and the laser drill being available is golem. Sure, it's a bit easier to obtain than the laser drill, but it's really quite underwhelming

[@CreativelyJake]

gems spawning on the surface of blocks in the snow makes so much sense for why i feel so lucky in the snow biome for finding gems... now, i need an explanation as to why the ONLY statues i find wired up without other wiring intersecting them, are skeletons and crabs. i swear its gotta be a technical terraria reference, the crabs... its gotta be in the code! that crab statues are wired up more!