There are many different tiers of pickaxes in Mine Defense, each increasing the amount of gold you gain and the chance to discover valuable gems while digging. The gold/click value also determines the damage done to attacking goblins and spiders by clicking them.
Mining gems and resources
After ten minutes of playing time and purchasing the first pick upgrade, each click has a small percentage chance (one tenth times the level of the equipped pick percent) of finding either one dreary (90%) or one murky (10%) gem. The Gleaming and Radiant pickaxes have a chance to mine an additional gem determined by a normal distribution. The Steel Tipped pickaxe increases the number of gems earned by the extra mining opportunity to 10 and has a much higher chance of both finding gems and finding high-tier gems. The Seismic pick always yields majestic gems. The earth shrine picks, Adamantium, Earthen, and Seismic, also produce steel and have a ten percent chance to produce adamantium while mining.
| Pickaxe | # Gems Found(per click) | Gaussian Mean(average gem found) | GaussianStandard Deviation | Steel(per click) | Adamantium(10% chance per click) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gleaming | 1 | -1 (no gem) | 3 | - | - |
| Radiant | 1 | 2 (cracked) | 3 | - | - |
| Steel Tipped | 10 | 6 (flawless) | 3 | - | - |
| Adamantium | 10 | 8 (perfect) | 3 | 10 | 100 * earth shrine level |
| Earthen | 100 | 9 (majestic) | 2 | 20 | 200 * earth shrine level |
| Seismic | 100 | 9 (majestic) | 0 | 30 | 300 * earth shrine level |
Setting gems
Pickaxe power can be increased through the addition of gems. Pickaxes can have two or three slots for gems. To get a three-slot pickaxe, repeatedly purchase the same pickaxe in the shop until a third slot shows up in the crafting window. Gems can be pried out of the pickaxe, which breaks them down into weaker gems at the same rate as breaking down gems through the combine feature (yielding one lower-tier gem less than it takes to create the gem that is set in the pickaxe).
Gems have the following effects on the pickaxes:
| Gem | Pick Efficiency | GPS Addition |
|---|---|---|
| Dreary | 100 | None |
| Murky | 1k | None |
| Cracked | 5k | None |
| Flawed | 10k | None |
| Normal | 20k | 1% |
| Great | 50k | 3% |
| Flawless | 100k | 5% |
| Exceptional | 250k | 10% |
| Perfect | 1M | 20% |
| Majestic | 5M | 30% |
Pick strength
Several upgrades, mage upgrades, and the level of the earth shrine increase the amount of gold mined per click. The effects that contribute to pickaxe strength are listed in the following chart in the order in which they are calculated along with whether or not they are additive or multiplicative increases.
| Cause | Calculation | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Pickaxe strength | See the pickaxe list's gold/click column for details | Base value |
| Setting gems | See the setting gems table's pick efficiency column for details | Additive |
| Elemental Pickaxe mage upgrade | Gold per click * 1100 | Multiplicative |
| Pioneer Spirit upgrade | Gold per click * 1.5 | Multiplicative |
| Mining Mastery upgrade | Gold per click * 2 | Multiplicative |
| Terra's Might upgrade | Gold per click * 2 | Multiplicative |
| A Little Bugged upgrade | Gold per click + (250 * # ants) | Additive |
| Mantis Extension upgrade | Gold per click + (750 * # ants) | Additive |
| Communal Effort upgrade | Gold per click + (1B * # non-ant hirelings) | Additive |
| Putting in Work upgrade | Gold per click + (999B * # woodpeckers) | Additive |
| HEART! mage upgrade | Gold per click * 2(# mages / 13) (maximum multiplier: 220 at 260 mages, see table) | Multiplicative |
| Advanced Magick upgrade | Maximum of either:Gold per click + ((GPS * # mages) / (50 * # half hours played)) + (# ants * # wyverns * 987)orGold per click * 3 | Depends |
| Earth shrine level | Gold per click * (earth shrine level)1.1 | Multiplicative |
Update info
- Version 1.01 - 20/12/2014
- Earth shrine levels now increase pick strength
- Earth shrine picks now produce 10 times more adamantium per click
- Doubled manual clicks required for Earthen and Seismic picks
- Version 1.00 - 13/12/2014
- Added Adamantium, Earthen, and Seismic picks
- Version 0.991 - 27/09/2014
- Prying out gems now gives the cost of the gem being pried minus 1
- Version 0.99 - 20/09/2014
- The quarry is more likely to find special resources while you are clicking (after a certain upgrade is bought)
- Version 0.95 - 16/08/2014
- Added Steel Tipped Pickaxe -- Not listed in update notes
- Version 0.92 - 25/07/2014
- Slightly reduced the power of the two new pickaxes
- Fixed a bug causing the final pick to be displayed as new even when it wasn't
- Lowered price on Radiant pick
- Version 0.91 - 19/07/2014
- Added 2 new high level picks that provide far more gems than previous picks
- Version 0.90 - 12/07/2014
- Prying out gems gives a warning message
- Version 0.89 - 05/07/2014
- Powerful late-game pick upgrade
- Version 0.85 - 21/06/2014
- Boosted picks and added several new pick upgrades
- Version 0.82 - 14/06/2014
- Added an extra pick before the last one (as the gap was too big)
- A warning is displayed if you buy a new pick while you have gems socketed
- Version 0.78 - 31/05/2014
- Fixed bug with socket dropdowns refreshing too quickly
- Gems can be pried from picks
- Version 0.75 - 24/05/2014
- The final pickaxe can now become much more powerful
- Picks can be rebought at any time
- Version 0.68 - 10/05/2014
- Added pickaxe enhancement via gems (4 gems to unlock)
- Version 0.65 - 03/05/2014
- An ultimate pickaxe upgrade now exists