Pickaxe prestige guide: when to prestige and which perks

The four prestige steps, what they cost, and which three perks and which Tartarus perk fit energy, XP or money. The perk picks are a starting point: they come from test runs on a fully enchanted pickaxe before launch, and Map 5 balance is new.

The short version

• Hold the pickaxe and type /prestige. The menu shows what the next step needs.
• A pickaxe prestiges in 4 steps. P1, P2 and P3 each give one perk you choose from all 16 prestige perks. There are no paths. The only rule is no perk twice on one pickaxe.
• P4 needs a Tartarus Sigil and gives one of four Tartarus perks.
• Prestiging keeps the pickaxe's level and enchants. It takes only the energy the step costs.
• Prestige gives perks only. Your ore, energy and XP bonuses come from the Mining Tree and follow you to any pickaxe.
• This is not Ascension, which is /ascend.

What it costs

Each step has two requirements: blocks mined with that pickaxe, and Ancient Energy stored on it. The block number is a lifetime total for the pickaxe and never resets. The energy is paid per step.

Mining charges the pickaxe until it reaches its energy capacity, and a full pickaxe stops mining. An Ancient Energy orb dropped onto the pickaxe still adds past that. If a step costs more than your pickaxe holds, bank the energy as orbs with /extract and drop them on when the blocks are done.

Stone, golden and iron sit in between. Pickaxe Prestige has every tier, and the menu always shows your exact numbers.

What counts as a block:

• The top ore your pickaxe mines, or anything above it. Ore below it does not count.

• Coal never counts. A wooden pickaxe starts filling the bar in the Iron Mine, at level 10.
• Some blocks count extra. Calcite is worth 2, ancient debris 1.5 and emerald ore 1.25. Calcite counts for every pickaxe that can break it: diamond and netherite, or an iron pickaxe at pickaxe level 40. The Calcite Caverns open at level 100 and your time there is rationed per day.
• Blocks your enchants and perks break count too, not only the ones you swing at.
• Blocks a renter mines count. If you list the pickaxe for rent, what the renter mines goes on its tally.

A mine one step above your pickaxe still counts, and its blocks pay more, but they break at 1.8x the time. It is worth doing only until you can buy the next pickaxe. The Mines lists which pickaxe can mine one step up.

When to prestige

Take P1 on any pickaxe you will use for a while. It is 42,000 to 70,000 blocks below netherite and 5M to 10M energy. A perk only adds to what the pickaxe does, and you keep your level and enchants.

About to buy the next tier? Skip it. /extract the energy in a safe zone, where it is free, and drop the orb onto the new pickaxe.

Save P2 and up for the pickaxe you will keep. They cost several times more, and blocks stay with the pickaxe that mined them. A new pickaxe starts from zero, with no enchants and no prestige.

On a pickaxe you are keeping, prestige as soon as the menu lets you. The step is paid from the same stored energy that buys enchant levels at the Wormhole.

Moving on from an old pickaxe. Nothing transfers. Enchants, levels and perks stay on the pickaxe that earned them. A Quantum Entangler does not move progress up a tier. It lets you mine with one pickaxe while the blocks count for a second pickaxe of the same tier or lower, so you can keep filling an old pickaxe while you use the new one. Both must be in your inventory, and an entangled pickaxe cannot be enchanted until you /unentangle it.

Picking three perks

Twelve of the 16 perks act on an enchant. Check your pickaxe has it first.

Shatter blocks pay ore only, so Shatter perks are money perks. Powerball blocks pay like blocks you mine yourself, so Powerball perks are energy and XP perks. The mining guide explains why.

By goal

Energy and XP: Twinned, Meteor, Fission. The best trio for both in testing. Meteor was in every top energy trio. Needs Powerball, and at least one more of Shatter, Super Breaker, Feed or Earthquake for Twinned to have something to fire.

Money: Core Breach, Shatterstorm, Cluster Bomb. The most ore in testing, and almost no extra energy or XP. Needs Shatter.

A bit of everything: Overcharge, Twinned, Meteor. It raised energy, XP and money together in testing. Needs Powerball for Meteor. Overcharge and Twinned want as many of the five enchants as you carry.

Residual Knowledge is the only perk that makes your Shatter blocks pay XP and energy. If you run Shatter and want energy from it, this is the perk. It pays on the Shatter you set off yourself, not on Cluster Bomb or Shatterstorm blasts.

Meteorite perks are for players who mine meteorites most of the time. Take them only if that is you.

With only one perk slot open, take the perk from your trio whose enchant the pickaxe already has. A Powerball perk on a pickaxe without Powerball does nothing until you roll it. No Powerball or Shatter yet? Amplified Odds works with any proc enchant. You can change the pick later with a Perk Swap Token.

Tartarus perk

P4 is the last step and a late goal. 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 prestige menu says where the Sigil comes from: it is the jackpot of a Tartarus Rift Cache from the Tartarus Rift, and the rarest thing in it. See Rift Shop & Caches.

You pick one of four perks. Each charges as you mine and fires on its own.

Tartarus Prestige (P4) has what each one does.

Changing your mind

None of them works on a corrupted pickaxe. Prestiging and the Tartarus Sigil still do. Finish your perks before you use an Orb of Moros on the pickaxe.

Drag the item onto the pickaxe to use it. Perk tokens come mostly from the Prestige Token Box. The Tartarus Reroll comes from Tartarus Rift Caches. See Prestige Tokens.