Ores

Ores are primary crafting materials necessary for game progress. They generally must be crafted into bars at a Furnace, after which they can craft several essential tools, weapons, armor, and other items. Some items require raw ores themselves, most commonly bricks and potions. Raw ores can also be used as plain blocks for construction.

Ores are generally found as veins of placed blocks in the Underground layer and below, and are mined with a pickaxe or drill. Lower-tier ores can be found among Dirt near the surface, or within Floating Islands. Some ores are also dropped by bosses, namely Eye of Cthulhu, Eater of Worlds, Brain of Cthulhu,, and.

An Extractinator and Wooden Crates (from fishing) also provide ores as random rewards.

A world will generally only contain one ore type from each tier, which is chosen at random, for instance; one world may have Copper and Iron Ores, while another may have Copper and Lead Ores (see tables below). The alternate ore types that do not generate naturally in a world, but can be obtained by other means, such as crates,, or loot from an Extractinator. Hardmode ore types are chosen at random as soon as the player destroys an Altar.

There are 21 /  20 different types of ores.

Hardmode
The first three tiers of Hardmode ores are spawned by destroying Demon/Crimson Altars, which requires a hammer with 80% hammer power or higher, e.g. the Pwnhammer. Chlorophyte Ore spawns on its own once Hardmode is triggered, though it cannot be mined before defeating all of the mechanical bosses, and Luminite does not occur naturally. Neither ores are affected by destroyed altars.

Ore generation
The number of ore veins generated upon destroying an altar is determined by the following formula:

$ores-math-1$
 * is the floor function.
 * is the width of the world divided by 4200: 1 for small, 1.524 for medium worlds and 2 for large worlds.
 * represents the respective tier of ore:
 * {| class="terraria lined"

! colspan=2 | Ore type !! Value
 * || || 0
 * || || 1
 * || || 2
 * }
 * depends on the ore type, slightly increasing/decreasing the rarity of different types:
 * {| class="terraria lined"
 * }
 * depends on the ore type, slightly increasing/decreasing the rarity of different types:
 * {| class="terraria lined"

! colspan=2 | Ore type !! Value
 * colspan=2 | || 1.05
 * || || 1
 * colspan=2 | || 0.945
 * || || 0.9
 * }
 * This reveals that worlds with Palladium instead of Cobalt, Orichalcum instead of Mythril, or Titanium instead of Adamantite will, on average, have 10% less of the respective ore.
 * || || 0.9
 * }
 * This reveals that worlds with Palladium instead of Cobalt, Orichalcum instead of Mythril, or Titanium instead of Adamantite will, on average, have 10% less of the respective ore.
 * This reveals that worlds with Palladium instead of Cobalt, Orichalcum instead of Mythril, or Titanium instead of Adamantite will, on average, have 10% less of the respective ore.

The table below visualizes this and shows how many ore veins will be spawned for each altar destroyed. If 264 altars were to be destroyed in one world, all following altars would only spawn one ore vein.
 * These values are for a small world.

All Hardmode ores will avoid spawning in the outer 100 tiles of the world. The highest location for Cobalt and Palladium to spawn is just below the surface, Mythril and Orichalcum start to spawn from the top of the Cavern layer, and Adamantite and Titanium start to spawn in the Cavern layer, lower than Mythril/Orichalcum. All ores stop spawning at 150 tiles above the world's bottom border, i.e. about one fourth into the Underworld.

The amount of altars smashed does not affect the size of ore veins, only the amount. As the generation of each vein is heavily randomized, it is difficult to give exact high and low values from "optimal" veins. Instead, a table of "good luck" vein amounts and "bad luck" vein amounts is shown below. Average yield is likely between 30–40% due to occasional lost ore.


 * Note that this is not related to the mechanic.

Note however, that the above table assumes that all the ore actually replaces blocks. Ore will not spawn if it attempts to spawn over any block not listed below.

In addition to this, Hardmode ores will not generate over Granite Blocks, Marble Blocks, or any hardened sands, and as such cannot be found in the, , and biomes without replaceable blocks already existing there.

Tips

 * Each Hardmode ore is chosen at the moment the first three altars in the world are broken. Ores can be "chosen" by quitting the world without saving (by ending the task or killing the process) after smashing the first altars. It is more easily done with a server, using the  command.
 * All ores except Hellstone and Obsidian are highlighted by the Spelunker buff, making it easy to find veins of ore. Hellstone is not lit up by the buff, but it is by a Dangersense Potion. Obsidian is easily found and made around lava.
 * Using a Crate Potion will improve the chances of obtaining crates and as such the ore-bearing Wooden Crates.
 * Filling in caves with spare natural blocks such as dirt before destroying altars can cause Hardmode ores to spawn in them. They can then also be seen on the minimap, presenting an easy way to convert extra blocks into ores with knowing their exact location.
 * In the, the Palladium Pickaxe and Drill can mine Adamantite and Titanium.
 * Most ores sell for the same as or more than the bars made from them, exceptions being the late pre-Hardmode ores (Meteorite, Hellstone, and Demonite/Crimtane) and Chlorophyte, all of which are far more profitable as bars. (Hellstone and Obsidian are unsaleable as ores, and there is no Obsidian Bar).
 * Two ways to quickly find Hardmode ores is to use previously discovered or search along the ceiling of The Underworld. Both of these methods feature large cave systems along a significant horizontal distance, the Minecart Tracks allow the player to outrun dangerous enemies, and pre-mechanical boss Hardmode enemies in the Underworld spawn rarely and are easy to avoid.

Trivia

 * Hellstone's item sprite is a recolor of that of Silver Ore.
 * Hellstone is the only ore that cannot be infinitely generated within a single world. Others can be obtained from sources such as crates, an Extractinator, bosses, duplicable liquids, Meteorite crashes, and mud.
 * Chlorophyte is limited by the amount of mud (and dirt) in the world, due to the absence of.
 * Iron and Lead are the only ore types without a respective brick type.
 * Luminite sells for the most of any ore, per piece.
 * Palladium, Cobalt, and Titanium are the only Hardmode ores named after real metals.
 * Luminite is the only ore that does not use either a Furnace or Hardmode Forge to craft bars, instead requiring the Ancient Manipulator.
 * In a, both alternative ore types in each tier are available.

Non-equivalencies
While most objects made of or implied to be made of ores and their derivatives have equivalents in the same tier, there exist several exceptions:


 * Copper / Tin
 * The Tin Can, obtained via fishing, has no "Copper Can" equivalent.
 * The Merchant will always sell copper tools even in worlds generated with tin.
 * Newly-spawned characters and respawning Mediumcore characters will always respawn with copper tools even in tin worlds.


 * Iron / Lead
 * While implied to be linked to ore progression due to the Hardmode Mythril Crate, the Iron Crate does not have a "Lead Crate" version.
 * The Ironskin Potion, despite its name, can be crafted using either Iron Ore or Lead Ore; there is no "Leadskin Potion" equivalent.
 * The Merchant will always sell an iron anvil even in worlds generated with lead.
 * Newly-spawned Journey characters will always have iron tools even in lead worlds.


 * Gold / Platinum
 * Gold Chests found underground have no "Platinum Chest" counterpart.
 * Golden furniture, dropped by the Pirate Invasion enemies, does not have a corresponding "Platinum furniture" set.
 * The Gold Ring, also dropped, has no platinum counterpart.
 * Gold Dust, alongside its derivatives and related buffs and debuffs, does not have a platinum counterpart.
 * Gold versions of critters do not have platinum counterparts.
 * The Golden Carp does not have a "Platinum Carp" equivalent.
 * While implied to be linked to ore progression due to the Hardmode Titanium Crate, the Gold Crate does not have a "Platinum Crate" version.
 * Despite gold and platinum being of the same tier for ores, Platinum Coins are in the tier directly above Gold Coins.


 * Cobalt / Palladium
 * Ancient Cobalt armor does not have a corresponding "Ancient Palladium set".
 * The Cobalt Shield does not have a matching "Palladium Shield".


 * Mythril / Orichalcum
 * While implied to be linked to ore progression due to the pre-Hardmode Iron Crate, the Mythril Crate does not have an "Orichalcum Crate" version.


 * Adamantite / Titanium
 * While implied to be linked to ore progression due to the pre-Hardmode Gold Crate, the Titanium Crate does not have an "Adamantite Crate" version.