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Mining
April 21, 2026 at 09:27 AM
Added image column with 3 item icons across 1 table
Mining is the primary route to metal ingots, Gunpowder, and the build-materials for the mid-to-late game weapon and armor chains. Windrose uses a three-tier pickaxe progression, with each tier unlocking a new ore class. All hand-gathering uses the same Stamina pool as combat, so Endurance is an indirect mining stat.
Image | Pickaxe | Recipe | Mines | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stone, Copper, Clay, Fertile Soil | Starter tool; crafted from first-minute resources. | ||
| 5 Copper Ingot + 5 Wood at Workbench | All Stone Pickaxe nodes + Foothills Iron Ore | Unlocks mid-game once a Furnace and Copper smelting loop are running. | |
| 5 Foothills Iron Ingot + 5 Wood at Workbench | All Copper Pickaxe nodes + Sulfur | Required to mine Sulfur for Gunpowder. |
Pickaxes have durability and degrade per swing, but sources disagree on exact values. The Copper Pickaxe is consistently described as having significantly higher durability and mining speed than the Stone Pickaxe. Do not expect a repair path; in practice, players re-craft pickaxes when they break.
Biome | Ores Available | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Copper is concentrated inside Copper Caves. Starter islands usually have at least one guaranteed cave. | ||
Foothills Iron Ore, abundant Sulfur | Iron nodes marked with a pickaxe icon on the mini-map. Sulfur drops are noticeably more dense than in the Coastal Jungle. | |
Cursed Swamps tier resources | Required for Mire Metal crafting. Found in Cursed Swamps mines, ruins, and Excavation Sites. |
High-tier alloys like Gold, Silver, and Tumbaga Ingot are not hand-mined. They drop from Blackbeard Transport Ship loot, Ancient Ruin chests, and Excavation Sites. Players who need them for late-game weapon recipes should plan around naval intercepts and Blackbeard Outposts rather than more pickaxe swings.
Surface nodes: visible boulders and rock outcrops. Low yield per node.
Cave nodes: mid-to-high yield. Copper Caves contain Waste Rocks that must be broken open to reveal hidden chambers and additional nodes.
Ancient Farm / Ancient Ruin rocks: sometimes yield Fertile Soil or occasional rare drops alongside standard stone.
Some community guides publish yield-per-node tables. Those are inconsistent across sources, so this article does not quote specific numbers. The reliable rule is that cave nodes yield more per swing than surface nodes, and Iron Pickaxe + Foothills nodes is the best throughput loop once available.
Image | Ore | Smelting | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 to 6 Copper Ore + 1 Charcoal at Furnace (sources disagree on exact ratio) | Copper Ingot for pickaxes, bullets, and early weapon tiers. | |
| 3 Iron Ore + 1 Charcoal at Furnace | Foothills Iron Ingot for Iron Pickaxe, Iron Bullets, and mid-tier armor. | |
| Gunpowder for firearms. | ||
| Smelted at endgame stations | Mire Metal Ingot for Cursed Swamps gear. |
No talent or attribute directly boosts mining yield, node speed, or pickaxe durability in the launch build. The only stat effect is indirect: Endurance increases stamina pool, and mining consumes stamina per swing, so higher Endurance means more nodes per rest cycle. Do not trust older guides that claim a mining-specific talent tree; none exists at launch.
Craft a Stone Pickaxe at the Workbench on hour 1.
Find a Copper Cave on the starting island; mine 20 to 30 Copper Ore.
Build a Furnace and start a Copper smelting run while gathering Wood and Stone on a rotation.
Upgrade to a Copper Pickaxe; sail to the Foothills when Thomas Richards is cleared from the Coastal Jungle gate.
Mine Foothills Iron Ore; smelt to Iron Ingots; craft the Iron Pickaxe.
Hunt Sulfur nodes in the Foothills for Gunpowder production.
Late game, rotate to Cursed Swamps for Ancient Scraps and enchanting materials.
Right after exiting the tutorial Copper Deposit cave on the starting island, the world map briefly highlights every nearby Clay deposit. The highlight is temporary: it goes away the moment the first Smelting Furnace and Charcoal Kiln are placed.
Open the map (M) immediately after the Copper Cave, right-click each highlighted clay node, and add a manual marker labeled "Clay" to each one. Manual markers persist after the auto-reveal disappears, which saves the long lap around the coastline that early-game players otherwise have to do every time the supply runs low.
The reveal only fires once, on the first cave exit. A second visit does not refresh the markers.
Clay nodes follow the sand-to-grass border. Even without the auto-reveal trick, that line is the most reliable place to scout.
Tool gate: a Stone Pickaxe is the minimum tool tier for clay nodes.
