Level 1 to Ascension III: what to do at each step
Every level and day that opens something, with one thing to do when you get there. New this map? Read Your first day first.
Two words to keep apart: Ascension (/ascend) resets your own level at 100. Prestige (/prestige) belongs to your pickaxe.
The level cap calendar
The whole server shares a level cap. It rises at 11 AM Pacific on the days below, and /levelcap shows it in game. Day 1 is launch day, a Friday.
| Map day | Weekday | Level cap | What the day opens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fri | 30 | Iron and Lapis Mines, stone pickaxe, Low Security bases |
| 2 | Sat | 45 | Redstone Mine |
| 3 | Sun | 60 | Golden pickaxe, the PvP Pit, iron armour |
| 4 | Mon | 70 | Gold Mine, iron pickaxe, Medium Security bases |
| 5 | Tue | 80 | |
| 6 | Wed | 85 | Diamond Mine |
| 7 | Thu | 90 | Diamond pickaxe |
| 8 | Fri | 95 | |
| 9 to 11 | Sat to Mon | 100 | Emerald Mine, Calcite Caverns, diamond armour, High Security bases |
| 12 to 15 | Tue to Fri | 101 | Ascension I |
| 16 to 22 | Sat to Fri | 102 | Ascension II, Netherite Mine, Maximum Security bases |
| 23 | Sat | 103 | Ascension III, the VIP base |
At the cap you stop gaining XP and mining pays 50% increased Ancient Energy instead. If you start late or fall behind, a catch-up bonus speeds up your XP until you Ascend. /levelcap shows your bonus. See Levels & The Level Cap and Maps & Resets.
Two rules for the whole climb
- Move to the next mine the level it unlocks. Each ore pays more Ancient Energy per block than the last: coal 16, iron 30, lapis 55, redstone 90, gold 120, diamond 160, emerald 205. Sell prices climb the same way. See The Mines and Ore Values. This is a starting point: Map 5 XP per mine has not been measured yet.
- Buy each pickaxe the day your level allows it. A levelled pickaxe can mine one ore above its tier, but each block takes 1.8x as long. A pickaxe's own level goes up by one each time an enchant lands at the Wormhole. A new pickaxe starts at level 0, so charge it at the Wormhole before you retire the old one. See Your Pickaxe.
Levels 1 to 30 (day 1)
| Level | What opens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coal Mine | The tutorial takes you to level 10. |
| 10 | Iron Mine, chainmail armour, the Mining Tree | Go to the Iron Mine with your wooden pickaxe. Chainmail comes from G-Kits, not /shop. |
| 20 | Your first vault door | Walk through it. Nothing in a vault can hurt you. |
| 25 | Lapis Mine | A wooden pickaxe mines lapis once the pickaxe itself is level 25. |
| 30 | Stone pickaxe, gold armour and weapons, Low Security base, AFK points | Buy the stone pickaxe ($350). Buy a Low base ($100,000) so mining starts paying Drachma. See Siege Bases. Go to the AFK world when you step away (the Asphodel Meadows tile in /mines): standing there earns AFK points for the AFK Shop. |
Levels 30 to 70 (days 2 to 4)
| Level | What opens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 45 | Redstone Mine. Rare Expedition monsters from area level 45 | A stone pickaxe mines redstone once the pickaxe is level 30. |
| 50 | Golden pickaxe, a second Mining Tree build | Buy the golden pickaxe ($750). Switch with /miningtree build 2 to try another tree without losing the first. |
| 60 | The PvP Pit, iron armour and weapons, Pit Breaches in Expeditions from area level 60 | Buy iron armour in /shop ($7,500 to $12,500 a piece) and start enchanting it. The Pit is full loot: go in with gear you can lose. |
| 65 | Gold Mine | A golden pickaxe mines gold once the pickaxe is level 35. |
| 70 | Iron pickaxe, Medium Security base | Buy the iron pickaxe ($2,500). Move to a Medium base ($3,000,000). |
Moving up a base tier is worth doing as soon as you meet the gate. Your buildings rebuild for free at the levels you paid for, your treasury moves with you, and the pay goes up: 100, 300 then 500 Drachma per 1,000 blocks and 1, 2 then 3 Tribute per monster at Low, Medium and High. See Drachma & Tribute and the Siege guide.
Levels 70 to 100 (days 4 to 9)
| Level | What opens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 85 | Diamond Mine | An iron pickaxe mines diamond once the pickaxe is level 40. |
| 90 | Diamond pickaxe | Buy it ($50,000). It is the last pickaxe before Ascension II. |
| 100 | Emerald Mine, Calcite Caverns, diamond armour and weapons, High Security base, fissures in Expeditions from area level 100, the Level 100 quest line | Use your Calcite time. Move to a High base ($30,000,000). |
Calcite Caverns open at level 100. Warp in from /mines. Calcite sells for $10.94 each, more than any raw ore, pays 225 Ancient Energy a block, and each block counts as 2 toward pickaxe prestige on every pickaxe tier. You start with 10 minutes a day and the timer resets at 11 AM Pacific. Mine your daily block threshold and tomorrow's time goes up by 3 minutes, to a cap of 30. Miss it and it goes down by 3, never below 10, so a skipped day costs you time.
Bosses have no level gate. Typhon needs one Etna Fragment from each of the four altar bosses, and the Fire Under Etna quest line leads to him. See the bosses and Typhon guide.
Armour tiers and what each is worth are on Gear & Armour and Armour.
Ascension I, II and III
/ascend opens the menu. It lists what each Ascension needs and gives. See Ascension.
| Needs | Earliest day | Gives | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ascension I | Level 100 | 12 | Max level 101, +1 max heart, 50% increased energy gain, 2x ore respawn rate, +1 jewel socket, 25% increased Calcite Caverns time |
| Ascension II | Level 101 | 16 | Max level 102, 3x ore respawn rate, +1 jewel socket, 25% increased key component drop rate in Calcite Caverns, /summonmeteor. At level 102: netherite gear and the Netherite Mine |
| Ascension III | Level 102 | 23 | Max level 103, 4x ore respawn rate, +1 jewel socket, +50% luck on loot drops. At level 103: /fly |
Every Ascension also gives 2 Ascension points for a mining class, picked with /miningtree ascendancy.
Your level goes back to 1. Pickaxes and gear need their levels again, so you climb back through wooden, stone, golden, iron and diamond. Keep your old pickaxes and armour for the climb.
You keep all 100 Mining Tree points, the mines you unlocked, your base, your money and your items. Vault loot and Expedition area levels keep using the level you Ascended at.
You can still warp to every mine, but your pickaxe decides what you can break. Emerald ore needs level 100 again. Calcite needs a diamond pickaxe (level 90), or an iron pickaxe at pickaxe level 40 once you are level 85. Your Calcite time is no use until then.
Ascend the day it opens for you. Waiting at level 100 gains nothing. The climb back costs 1.5x XP after Ascension I, 2x after II and 3x after III, whenever you start it, and the catch-up bonus stops once you have an Ascension. Starting sooner gives you more days to finish.
The levels past 100 cost 800M XP (100 to 101), 5B (101 to 102) and 100B (102 to 103). Flight rules are on Homes & Flight.
What to do while you are capped
- Keep mining. The 50% increased energy at the cap feeds your enchants and your pickaxe prestige.
- Take every vault door.
- Hold your XP Bottles. The game refuses them at the cap. Drink them after the cap moves.
- Work through the daily checklist below.
More on each: the mining guide, the pickaxe prestige guide, the Siege guide, the PvE and Expeditions guide and the bosses and Typhon guide. For what to sell and where items come from, see Making money and the farming guide.
A daily checklist
Everything here resets at 11 AM Pacific.
/levelcap: has the cap moved?- The daily bonuses in
/daily. Your first 500 Expedition monsters pay boosted Hunter XP for your Hunter Tree. Your first 10 boss kills pay 2x loot to the summoner. Your first 10,000 blocks pay 100% increased XP, energy and ore. The XP part of the mining bonus is wasted at the cap, so mine those blocks before you cap if you can. - First Week reward in
/dailyif you are new. - 3 Siege attacks from
/base. They do not carry over to the next day. See Siege Raids. - Calcite Caverns time, once you can mine calcite.
- Season Pass dailies in
/pass. /vote. See Voting.