Guide:Mining techniques

This is a collection of mining techniques to enhance Terrarian mining.

Grapple Shaft Mining
Required Items:


 * Grappling Hook (or Ivy Whip)
 * Any type of pickaxe
 * A high amount of wood or wood platforms

Just dig a two-or-three-block wide hole going down, bridging the area between with wood platforms every time the last one placed has moved off the screen.

Most useful for discovering caves and the Underground Jungle. Also usable to quickly access The Underworld.

The best part is the quick ascent, as you can use momentum if you are quick enough with your clicks, the biggest con is that you need a lot more wood compared to other techniques.

To reduce the use of wood and increase mining speed, use a lucky horseshoe(no fall damage) and a magic mirror(return to base fast) this saves wood and time getting to the bottom and getting back to base.

Required Items

 * Fall damage negating item, this includes water, cobwebs, any form of grappling hook, or the ability to use a Lucky Horseshoe
 * Any type of pickaxe
 * Sand (Not necessary, but extremely helpful. Can be replaced by any building material if sand is a problem)
 * Depth Meter (Optional)
 * Obsidian Skull (Optional, recommended for when you reach the underworld)
 * Mining Helmet (Optional, but it's much easier to see with, Orb of Light is an acceptable replacement)
 * Magic Mirror (Optional, you may instead leave the world and reconnect to return to your spawn point)

The goal of this form of mining is not to maximize your ore output. It is a method of getting you from point A. above-ground to point B. below-ground. Many keep chutes like this to their mushroom farm/jungle farms. It also allows quick access to the underworld. If at any point you need to stop to explore a cavern or mine for ores, feel free to do so.

To dig correctly, find a location where you will be able to easily access near your spawn. In the case of making an underground corruption farm, the opposite holds true. In case you need to return to the surface to drop off materials or withdraw items, a magic mirror is suggested. Start mining straight down. You should have no problems. At a point where you want a temporary stop, you can use wood platforms. If you have reached your destination then place down a few blocks worth of water, or a cobweb to stop the fall damage for you.

How to avoid the obstacles you will encounter in your path to the end of the shaft
Monsters - Sadly to say, the only real way you can take them out is to get to their level, kill them, and get back on the shaft ASAP. If you have a vilethorn and mana, you CAN use it to kill them without getting near them.

Air pockets, large and small - This is why you brought sand. Before you fall, place sand to the area left and right of your shaft, as to continue the shaft walls. The sand will fall to the bottom of the floor, and eventually will build itself back up to right next to you. Then remove the blocks beneath you and fall down to where you can continue.

Water/Lava - Sand works great here too. Drop some beneath you before you land in the liquid. Afterwords you can just dig it out and be on your merry way.

Ways to improve your mining efficiency

 * 1) Upgrade your equipment regularly.  Better pickaxes mean faster mining.  If you carry a Nightmare Pickaxe as well as a Molten Pickaxe then you have the ability to dig through dirt and mud extremely quickly. The Nightmare Pickaxe should be used on mud and dirt blocks due to it's faster swing speed and it takes the same amount of hits per block as the Molten Pickaxe making it more efficient. The Molten Pickaxe should be used on all other materials as they take one or more hits with the Nightmare Pickaxe whereas the molten pickaxe has the higher power so it is more efficient when mining harder types of block. The use of Feral Claws, Jungle Armor or Shadow Armor (melee attack speed enhancing items)makes you swing the pickaxe faster, but the actual speed at which the blocks are mined remains the same. Still, the use of such items can be a good idea for certain mining situations, where you have to protect yourself from the enemies. These situations include meteorite ore mining (swing your pickaxe faster to defend against meteor heads)and hellstone mining (to defend against fire imps).
 * 2) Mining with a friend makes it go by extremely quickly.  You can increase your speed about 300% in multiplayer.  One player can aim at blocks on one side and the other can focus on blocks on the other side.  Since there's no mouse movement, you move downwards at an extremely fast pace.
 * 3) If you can't mine with a friend, another way to mine quicker is to make sure you're mining only two blocks width. If you have a hole of 2 block width, you can easily click and hold, and simply move back and forth very quickly (so long as your pickaxe is strong enough) instead of moving your mouse around. You hardly have to move at all if you click in the right spot (aiming directly under your feet when standing in the middle of the two blocks).

Required

 * Pickaxe (obviously)
 * Some light creating item (or not necessary in case of lava)
 * Dirt or some other block you want to place

Digging downwards
If you face lava or water when digging downward, replace the water or lava spots where you want to go through. It has to be at least 4 blocks wide, otherwise the water or lava will just flow back in. So dig the blocks away from the middle, and leave the safe area there. (in this case, the sides) After that, repeat the same step to get to your goal.

Digging sideways
Almost completely the same way like downwards, but now you need atleast 5 blocks width because the player is 3 blocks high. Fill the water/lava with the blocks, dig some of them, continue this until you've reached your goal. Also be wary of an annoying enemy, called Giant Worm (If in the Underworld, Bone Serpent)

Digging underwater
When digging downwards underwater if you run out of breath and the surface is too far away you can always dig out a small 3-5-5 sized cavern in the shape of upside down letter G. In the cavern you can breathe in and replenish your health if needed. If youre digging sideways underwater you can make a simple 2x2 hole above your head and get a deep breath of some fresh air.