Mining speed

Mining speed (also known as "tool speed") is an invisible statistic that determines how fast the player can mine (or break walls, or chop down trees/cacti). Its value shows the time per hit in 60ths of second. It is therefore something of a misnomer: it is presented in the form of the amount of time taken for a certain event, whereas speed is the number of events that take place in a certain amount of time (or, in mathematical terms, the number that is seen is the of the speed). This means that faster tools have smaller numbers, not larger. For example, a mining speed of 15 means that the tool will hit the block every 15/60 of a second, or four times per second. A mining speed of 20, on the other hand, means that the tool will hit the block every 20/60 of a second, or three times per second.

When breaking walls, its value is cut in half, then any numbers after the decimal point removed (e.g. 2.8 would be rounded down to 2). Thus, walls break at least twice as fast as blocks.

The final mining speed is determined by the following:


 * The tool's base tool speed, which is hidden in the game's code and not normally visible in game (but can be looked up on this wiki, referred to as "tool speed" on each tool's page and as "mining speed" as a column header in a table of tools).
 * Any speed-modifying prefix on the tool (the best being "Light," with a 15% increase. Note that for some tools, there are other prefixes which will work just as well. Details below). Changing other stats via a prefix (e.g. damage) has no effect on mining speed.
 * Buffs and items specifically affecting mining speed. Note that these only apply to tools that are capable of actual "mining," i.e. pickaxes and drills. Interestingly, the Drax, Laser Drill, Pickaxe Axe, Picksaw and Shroomite Digging Claw, which can function as both pickaxes and axes, will benefit from these bonuses even whilst being used as axes.
 * Note: As of 1.4, only pickaxes, Pickaxe Axe and Shroomite Digging Claw can have their speed modified. Furthermore, boost is capped at 400%/3 (133% after rounding).

In particular, a tool's mining speed is independent of how quickly it swings, which is the speed visible in the in-game tooltip (e.g. "Copper Pickaxe—Fast Speed") which can also be referred to as "use time." Speed-modifying prefixes affect both mining speed and use time, potentially leading to the misconception that "melee speed" bonuses from armor and accessories improve mining speed. In truth, melee speed bonuses affect only use time, which is useful for combat but has no influence on mining speed.

Useful prefixes
Pickaxes (including the Pickaxe Axe, Shroomite Digging Claw, and Picksaw), axes, hammers, and hamaxes (including The Axe) can be reforged with speed bonuses to improve their mining speed. Drills (including the Drax), chainsaws, and the Chlorophyte Jackhammer cannot. The speed-increasing modifiers are displayed in the following table.

Displayed values in-game may differ due to rounding.

While the best prefix for mining in general is Light, certain tools will achieve the same speed with lesser prefixes due to rounding, which means it is much easier (and cheaper) to reforge these tools, since there are more prefixes that tie for "most optimal." This is complicated by the fact that tool speed is halved and floored when hammering, but the long and short of it is this:
 * Tools with a tool speed of 6, 7, 8, or 16 will achieve equal block/tree/cactus-breaking speeds with either a +10% or +15% prefix—these include the Adamantite, Candy Cane, Chlorophyte, Orichalcum, Titanium, and Luminite Pickaxes, the Pickaxe Axe and the Picksaw; as well as the Adamantite, Chlorophyte, Cobalt, Mythril, Orichalcum, Palladium, and Titanium Axes, the Luminite, Meteor, and Spectre Hamaxes and The Axe.
 * Tools with a tool speed of 9 or 10 will achieve equal block/tree/cactus-breaking speeds with either a +6%, +10%, or +15% prefix—these include the Mythril and Spectre Pickaxes.
 * Tools with a tool speed of 4 or 5 require the Light prefix for their speed to be improved at all. The only tool with a tool speed of 4 or 5 is the Shroomite Digging Claw. And if there were any tools with a tool speed of less than 4, not even the Light prefix would improve their speed.
 * Hammers with a tool speed of 8, 17, 19, 21, or 23 will achieve equal wall-breaking speeds with either a +10% or +15% prefix—these include: the Boreal Wood, Copper, Gold, Lead, Palm Wood, Pearlwood, Platinum, Silver, and Tin Hammers, the Flesh Grinder, The Breaker, and the Spectre Hamaxe.
 * If there were any hammers with a tool speed of 10, they would achieve equal wall-breaking speeds with either a +6%, +10%, or +15% prefix.
 * Hammers with a tool speed of 12, 14, or 16 will achieve equal wall-breaking speeds with either a +5%, +6%, +10%, or +15% prefix—these include the Chlorophyte Warhammer, Hammush, Rockfish, Pwnhammer, and the Meteor and Molten Hamaxes.
 * Hammers with a tool speed of 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, or 13 cannot have their wall-breaking speed improved by prefixes at all—these include the Luminite Hamaxes and The Axe.
 * This means that the only hammers for which "Light" actually is the exclusive best prefix are the Ebonwood, Iron, Shadewood, Tungsten and Wooden Hammers.

Speed-increasing buffs and items
These are the buffs and items which improve mining speed (pickaxes only):
 * The Mining buff from the Mining Potion adds 25%.
 * The Mining armor adds 30% with the set bonus.
 * The and Celestial Stone each add 15%.
 * The Sun Stone and Moon Stone add 15% during day and night respectively or during a Solar Eclipse.
 * The or Hand of Creation adds 25%.
 * The adds 20%.
 * The Well Fed, and  buff add 5%, 10% and 15% respectively.

This increase is capped at 70%, even though all items together add 130%.

Modification formula
1. Start with the tool's base tool speed (as documented on its page on this wiki). 2. Multiply by [1 - speed modification from tool prefix]. 3. Round to the nearest whole number.

If the tool is a pickaxe: 4. Add up all the bonuses to mining speed from buffs and items. 5. Use 70% if the answer was anything higher than 70%. 6. Multiply the number from step 3 by [1 - the number from in step 5]. 7. Round down.

If the tool is a hammer: 4. Divide by 2. 5. Round down.

Example A: digging a tunnel with a Light Shroomite Digging Claw, having drunk a Mining Potion and wearing a Celestial Stone. Performance will be one hit every 1/60s (e.g. it will mine 60/1 = 60 dirt blocks per second).
 * 1) The Claw's tool speed is 4.
 * 2) The Light prefix has +15% speed. 4&times;(1-0.15) = 3.4.
 * 3) 3.4 is rounded to 3.
 * 4) The Mining Potion adds 25% and the Celestial Stone adds 15%. These total 40%.
 * 5) 40% is less than 70%, so nothing happens in this step.
 * 6) 3&times;(1-0.40) = 1.8.
 * 7) 1.8 is rounded down to 1.

Example B: chopping trees with an Annoying Pickaxe Axe, having drunk a Mining Potion. Performance will be one hit every 6/60s, or 60/6 = 10 hits per second. Trees have 500% hit points and the Pickaxe Axe has 110% axe power, so it will take CEILING(500%/110%) = 5 hits to chop down a tree, which will take (6&times;5)/60 = 0.5 seconds.
 * 1) The Pickaxe Axe's tool speed is 7.
 * 2) The Annoying prefix has -15% speed. 7&times;(1-(-0.15)) = 8.05.
 * 3) 8.05 is rounded to 8.
 * 4) The Mining Potion adds 25%.
 * 5) 25% is less than 70% so nothing happens in this step.
 * 6) 8&times;(1-0.25) = 6.
 * 7) 6 is already a whole number, so nothing happens in this step.

Example C: tearing down background walls with a Murderous The Axe, wearing full Mining armor. Step 3 illustrates why some tools do not have their speed improved by some prefixes. The Mining armor was a red herring: it has no effect on The Axe. Since the bonus it provides is mining speed, and axes are not affected by mining speed Performance will be one hit every 3/60s, so it will break 60/3 = 20 walls per second.
 * 1) The Axe's tool speed is 7.
 * 2) The Murderous prefix has +6% speed. 7&times;(1-0.06) = 6.58.
 * 3) 6.58 is rounded to 7.
 * 4) 7/2 = 3.5.
 * 5) 3.5 is rounded down to 3.

Mining speed tables
The Legendary, Deadly, Agile, and Nasty prefixes have exactly the same impact on mining speed as Quick.

Pickaxes/Drills
All drills' mining speeds are not affected by modifiers.

Axes/Chainsaws
Modifiers aside, all chainsaws which have a corresponding axe are functionally identical to that axe and have therefore been omitted, except for the Chlorophyte Chainsaw.

Hammers

 * The hit points of a wall are more than 65% and at most 68% (the exact value is unknown). Therefore, tools with at least 68% hammer power (Meteor Hamaxe/Rockfish or better) will break a wall in one hit, the Wooden Hammer will take three hits, and all other hammers will take two hits.
 * The Chlorophyte Jackhammer is the only jackhammer in the game.
 * While the Meteor and Molten Hamaxes do not further improve their hammer performance with prefixes beyond Nimble, they can improve their axe performance.
 * While the Luminite Hamaxes and The Axe do not improve their hammer performance with prefixes, they can improve their axe performance.

Fastest mining tools
The Legendary, Deadly, Agile, and Nasty prefixes have exactly the same impact on mining speed as Quick.

Pickaxes

 * Light Bone Pickaxe for things that it can break in one hit (e.g. Dirt, Mud, Sand, Snow), as well as things that will take two hits regardless of pick strength (e.g. Grass).
 * If the Bone Pickaxe is too difficult to obtain, substitute a Light Silver Pickaxe.
 * If using a Bone Pickaxe, also use it for everything else that it can mine (namely, Meteorite Ore and below, plus Spikes).
 * If using a Deathbringer Pickaxe, also use it for things it mines in three hits: Ebonstone, Crimstone, Hellstone Ore and Dungeon Brick.
 * Light Reaver Shark or Light Molten Pickaxe for everything else.
 * Keep in mind that Bombs and Dynamites can mine faster than pickaxes when used well. It is also possible to make them more intuitive to use by combining them with gel to make Sticky Bombs and Sticky Dynamites.

Axes

 * Light Molten Hamaxe.
 * Without access to Hellstone, the best chopping tool is a Sawtooth Shark (any prefix), followed by a Quick/Light Meteor Hamaxe.

Hammers

 * Rockfish/Molten Hamaxe with any speed-increasing prefix.
 * Meteor Hamaxe with any speed-increasing prefix is a distant second, since it takes two hits to break a wall.

Pickaxes

 * Light Shroomite Digging Claw for everything except Lihzahrd Brick (which it cannot mine).
 * Post-Moon Lord, the Light Luminite Pickaxe can be used for Lihzahrd Brick, or if the Claw's -1 range is unfavorable to the player.
 * A Luminite Pickaxe can be subsituted by a Quick/Light Picksaw if necessary.
 * When range is more important than speed, the Laser Drill (any prefix) has an extreme +11 range.
 * Pre-Plantera, a Quick/Light Chlorophyte Pickaxe (a Quick/Light Pickaxe Axe, which must be crafted first, has the same speed but lacks a range bonus).
 * pre-Mechanical Bosses, a Quick/Light Adamantite/Titanium Pickaxe is best.
 * Bombs, Dynamite, Rockets II and IV and Mini Nuke IIs (most preferably used with the Celebration Mk2) as well as the Drill Containment Unit might be more effective strategies for mining large areas but they can lack the precision of standard tools.

Axes

 * Light Shroomite Digging Claw.
 * Quick/Light The Axe if the player finds the Claw's -1 range unfavorable.
 * If The Axe is too hard to obtain or too frustrating to use (due to its sound effect), a Quick/Light Picksaw can be substituted.
 * Quick/Light Luminite Hamaxe when post-Moon Lord and if more range than the Picksaw or The Axe (don't get confused: with the best prefixes on everything, the Picksaw is a faster axe than the Luminite Hamaxes but a slower pickaxe than the Luminite Pickaxes) is an absolute must.
 * If range is a priority, the Laser Drill might be a better choice.
 * Pre-Plantera, a Quick/Light Chlorophyte Greataxe (a Quick/Light Adamantite/Titanium Waraxe has the same speed but lacks a range bonus).
 * When pre-Mechanical Bosses, the Quick/Light Adamantite/Titanium Waraxe are useful.

Hammers

 * Luminite Hamaxe or The Axe, with any speed-increasing or speed-neutral prefix.
 * Quick/Light Spectre Hamaxe if the player is pre-Moon Lord and can't get The Axe, can't stand its sound effect, or want even more range.
 * Pre-Moon Lord, a Quick/Light Spectre Hamaxe has the same speed as the Luminite Hamaxes, but a smaller range bonus.
 * Pre-Plantera, a Chlorophyte Warhammer with any speed-increasing prefix (a Hammush/Pwnhammer/Molten Hamaxe/Rockfish with any speed-increasing prefix has the same speed but lacks a range bonus).
 * When pre-Mechanical Bosses, the Hammush/Pwnhammer/Molten Hamaxe/Rockfish with any speed-increasing prefix are useful.

Trivia

 * Despite being presumably higher-tech, Chainsaws are generally inferior to Axes made out of the same material: they have the same or worse tool speed and they cannot be reforged to increase that speed. They do have the advantage that clicking "resets" the digging process, so the player can theoretically make up the difference (and then some) by clicking rapidly. However, faster tools require faster clicking to keep up, and realistically, doing this with even Cobalt tools is very demanding, most likely requiring two hands on the mouse for any player not thoroughly seasoned in rapid clicking from other games. As of, all drills are faster than pickaxes, though they still do not benefit from speed boosts.
 * Using the Drill Containment Unit is probably a better, albeit more expensive alternative. But it doesn't benefit from any upgrades that are given.