Levels & The Level Cap
Your mining level is the backbone of progression on Ancients. You earn mining XP for every ore you break — higher-tier ores give far more XP — and your XP bar shows progress toward the next level. Open /levels to see the full milestone track, your rewards, and what unlocks next.
Earning XP
- Mine ores anywhere: the better the ore, the more XP per block.
- XP boosters (from the tutorial, booster boxes, events and more) multiply your gains.
- You can also trade XP itself:
/xpextract(available from level 10) bottles your mining XP into a tradeable XP bottle. Extraction is taxed, and the tax grows with your level bracket — from 5% at the Simple tier up to 25% at Godly.
Levels run from 1 to 100, and player prestige can push your personal max as high as 103 — see the Prestige page.
Level-Up Rewards
Every single level-up pays out 3–8 shards, with the shard rarity matching your level bracket:
| Levels | Shard rarity |
|---|---|
| 1–9 | Simple |
| 10–29 | Uncommon |
| 30–49 | Elite |
| 50–69 | Ultimate |
| 70–89 | Legendary |
| 90+ | Godly |
Every 10th level also awards a contraband (one rarity tier below your shard bracket). The final stretch pays out more: level 101 gives 2 contrabands, level 102 gives 3, and level 103 gives 3–5.
What Levels Unlock
Mines open up as you level (the /warps menu shows each requirement):
| Level | Mine |
|---|---|
| 1 | Coal Mine |
| 10 | Iron Mine |
| 25 | Lapis Mine |
| 45 | Redstone Mine |
| 60 | The Pit |
| 65 | Gold Mine |
| 85 | Diamond Mine |
| 100 | Emerald Mine & Calcite Caverns |
| 102 | Netherite Mine (requires Prestige II) |
Gear and tools also unlock by level — chainmail armor at 10, stone weapons at 15, gold gear and the stone pickaxe at 30, the golden pickaxe at 50, iron gear at 60, the iron pickaxe at 70, the diamond pickaxe at 90, diamond gear and emerald ore mining at 100, and /fly at 103 (with Prestige III). The full list is in /levels.
The Level Cap
The level cap is shared by the whole server and rises day by day over the season, so nobody can rush to the endgame in week one:
| Season day | Level cap |
|---|---|
| 1 | 45 |
| 2–7 | climbs from 50 to 85 |
| 8 | 90 |
| 9–11 | 92, 95, 97 |
| 12–14 | 100 |
| 15–17 | 101 |
| 18–20 | 102 |
| 21 onward | 103 (final) |
The cap moves once per day. When you're sitting at the cap, extra XP is paused until it rises — a good time to focus on pickaxe prestige, events, or banking XP bottles.
Prestige and the cap: you can take Prestige I once the cap has passed 100 (so the climb to 101 is open), and each later prestige likewise needs the cap to have reached the next level. From day 21 the cap is fully open and all three prestiges are reachable.