Pickaxe prestige guide: when to prestige and which perks

When to prestige a pickaxe and which perks to take. The perk picks come from test runs before launch, so treat them as a starting point.

The rules

P1, P2 and P3 each give one perk from all 16 prestige perks. No perk twice on one pickaxe.
P4 needs a Tartarus Sigil and gives one of four Tartarus perks.
You keep the pickaxe's level and enchants. A step takes only its energy cost.
This is not Ascension (/ascend).

What it costs

Each step needs a lifetime block total on that pickaxe, plus Ancient Energy stored on it.

Step	Wooden	Diamond	Netherite
P1	42,000 blocks, 5M	70,000 blocks, 10M	80,500 blocks, 45M
P2	333,000 blocks, 25M	555,000 blocks, 160M	638,250 blocks, 630M
P3	3,795,000 blocks, 100M	6,325,000 blocks, 750M	7,273,750 blocks, 2.985B
P4	10,000,000 blocks, 435M	36,000,000 blocks, 3.265B	50,000,000 blocks, 13.05B

Other tiers: Pickaxe Prestige.

Only the pickaxe's top ore or higher counts. Coal never counts.

Pickaxe	Counts from
Wooden	Iron ore
Stone	Lapis ore
Golden	Redstone ore
Iron	Gold ore
Diamond	Diamond ore
Netherite	Ancient debris

Some blocks count extra: calcite 2, ancient debris 1.5, emerald ore 1.25.
Blocks your procs and perks break count, and so do blocks a renter mines with it.
A step costs more than the pickaxe holds? Bank energy as orbs with /extract and drop them on when the blocks are done. Orbs add past capacity.

When to prestige

Take P1 on any pickaxe you will use for a while.
About to buy the next tier? Skip it. /extract the energy in a safe zone, where it is free, and drop the orb on the new pickaxe.
Save P2 and up for the pickaxe you will keep. Nothing transfers. A new pickaxe starts from zero.
A Quantum Entangler lets your blocks count for a second pickaxe of the same tier or lower. Both must be in your inventory, and an entangled pickaxe can't be enchanted until you /unentangle it.

Picking three perks

Most perks need an enchant. Check the pickaxe has it first.

Perks	Need
Swarm, Meteor, Fission, Barrage	Powerball
Cluster Bomb, Core Breach, Shatterstorm, Residual Knowledge	Shatter
Overcharge, Twinned, Second Chance	As many of Shatter, Powerball, Super Breaker, Feed and Earthquake as you can
Amplified Odds	Any proc enchant
Spall, Debris Field, Thunderhead, Starlens	Meteorites. They do nothing on mine ore

By goal

Energy and XP: Twinned, Meteor, Fission. Needs Powerball, plus one of Shatter, Super Breaker, Feed or Earthquake for Twinned.
Money: Core Breach, Shatterstorm, Cluster Bomb. Needs Shatter. Almost no extra energy or XP.
Some of everything: Overcharge, Twinned, Meteor.
Residual Knowledge is the only perk that makes your Shatter blocks pay XP and energy.
Meteorite perks only if you mine meteorites most of the time.

One slot open? Take the perk whose enchant the pickaxe already has. No Powerball or Shatter yet? Take Amplified Odds.

Tartarus perk (P4)

Pick your three perks as if they are final. Take the pickaxe to P3, drag a Tartarus Sigil onto it, meet the cost and prestige. The Sigil is the jackpot of a Tartarus Rift Cache. See Rift Shop & Caches.

Perk	Pick it for
Judgement Storm	XP. No ore
Beam Drill	Energy, with steady ore
Fissure	Money
Orbital Strike	Ore, with some energy and XP

Changing your mind

Perk Swap Token: replaces one perk with any perk you choose. The fix for a perk you regret.
Perk Reroll Token: rerolls the value of every perk.
Tartarus Reroll: re-pick your Tartarus perk, or reroll one perk to a max roll.

None of them work on a corrupted pickaxe. Finish your perks before you use an Orb of Moros. See Prestige Tokens.