Ores

Ores

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Statistics

Type	Crafting material
Placeable
Use time	10 (Very fast)

• Internal Tile ID: 6-9, 22, 37, 56, 58, 107-108, 111, 166-169, 204, 211, 221-223, 408

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, Ocram , and Moon Lord.

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, bonus drops   , Slime drops, 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.

Types

Ore		Rarity	Sell
	Copper Ore Internal Item ID: 12	00*	50*50
	Tin Ore Internal Item ID: 699	00*	75*75
	Iron Ore Internal Item ID: 11	0*	100*1
	Lead Ore Internal Item ID: 700	0*	150*150
	Silver Ore Internal Item ID: 14	0*	150*150 200*2
	Tungsten Ore Internal Item ID: 701	00*	225*225
	Gold Ore Internal Item ID: 13	0*	300*3
	Platinum Ore Internal Item ID: 702	0*	450*450
	Meteorite Internal Item ID: 116	00*	200*2
	Demonite Ore Internal Item ID: 56	01*	1000*10
	Crimtane Ore Internal Item ID: 880	01*	1300*13
	Obsidian Internal Item ID: 173	00*	-
	Hellstone Internal Item ID: 174	02*	250*250
	Cobalt Ore Internal Item ID: 364	03*	700*7
	Palladium Ore Internal Item ID: 1104	03*	900*9
	Mythril Ore Internal Item ID: 365	03*	1100*11
	Orichalcum Ore Internal Item ID: 1105	03*	1300*13
	Adamantite Ore Internal Item ID: 366	3*	1500*15
	Titanium Ore Internal Item ID: 1106	03*	1700*17
	Chlorophyte Ore Internal Item ID: 947	07*	1500*15
	Luminite Internal Item ID: 3460	10*	3000*30

Pre-Hardmode

Tier	Ore types		Minimum tools required	Crafting	Source
1	Copper Ore	Tin Ore		3 = 3 =	Surface, Underground, Cavern
2	Iron Ore	Lead Ore		3 = 3 =	Surface, Underground, Cavern
3	Silver Ore	Tungsten Ore		4 = 4 =	Underground, Cavern, Floating Islands, Surface (rarely)
4	Gold Ore	Platinum Ore		4 = 4 =	Underground, Cavern, Floating Islands, Surface (very rarely)
5	Meteorite			3 =	Meteorite biome
6	Demonite Ore	Crimtane Ore	( )	: 3 =  : 4 =   : 3 =  : 4 =	Eye of Cthulhu, Underground, Cavern, Eater of Worlds (Demonite), Brain of Cthulhu (Crimtane)
7	Obsidian			n/a	Contact between water & lava
8	Hellstone			3 + =	Underworld

Hardmode

Tier	Ore types		Minimum tools required	Crafting	Source
9	Cobalt Ore	Palladium Ore	( only works on     )	3 = 3 =	Underground, Cavern
10	Mythril Ore	Orichalcum Ore		4 = 4 =	Cavern
11	Adamantite Ore	Titanium Ore	( only works on )	5 = 5 =	Cavern (roughly at lava depth), Ocram  (Adamantite only)
12	Chlorophyte Ore			6 =	Underground Jungle
13	Luminite			4 =	Moon Lord

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 killing all of the Mechanical bosses, and Luminite does not occur naturally. Neither ores are affected by destroyed altars. This content is transcluded from Altars.

1. First altar: Cobalt Ore or Palladium Ore, chosen randomly.
2. Second altar: Mythril Ore or Orichalcum Ore, chosen randomly.
3. Third altar: Adamantite Ore or Titanium Ore, chosen randomly.

Players will be able to find these new ores scattered across the Underground layer to near-Underworld levels, with them replacing most blocks created during world generation. They will spawn at random locations in varying quantity, in places explored and unexplored alike.

• Destroying more altars will never spawn Hardmode ore types beyond the three that were randomly assigned to the world during the initial round of destroyed altars. A world with Palladium Ore deposits will never spawn Cobalt Ore deposits, or vice versa. (Except for the Drunk World seed.)

• Which ores are generated is not determined until the first, second or third altar is smashed. For example, it is not determined if the world has Cobalt or Palladium until the first altar has been smashed. The same goes for Mythril/Orichalcum with the second altar, and Adamantite/Titanium for the third.
• Subsequent altars destroyed will begin the cycle again, though the fourth to sixth altars will drop half as much ore as the first ones, the seventh to ninth will drop only one third of the ore of the first ones, and so forth. So, the n^th cycle will only generate one-n^th as much ore as the first one. For example, destroying the 19th altar would yield one-seventh of Cobalt/Palladium Ore compared to the first altar. Destroying 12 altars will roughly double the ore provided by the first three; tripling that original allotment would require destroying 33 altars (if a world spawns that many).
• No matter how many altars are destroyed, ore rarity remains set with Cobalt/Palladium being the most common, followed by Mythril/Orichalcum, then Adamantite/Titanium as the rarest.

• Cobalt/Palladium is roughly twice as common as Adamantite/Titanium, with Mythril/Orichalcum halfway between.

Ore generation

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

• world size is the width of the world divided by 4200: 1 for small, 1.524 for medium worlds and 2 for large worlds.

• ore tier represents the respective tier of ore:

Ore type		Value
Cobalt Ore	Palladium Ore	0
Mythril Ore	Orichalcum Ore	1
Adamantite Ore	Titanium Ore	2

• factor depends on the ore type, slightly increasing/decreasing the rarity of different types:

Ore type		Value
Cobalt Ore		1.05
Mythril Ore	Adamantite Ore	1
Palladium Ore		0.945
Orichalcum Ore	Titanium 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.

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.

Ore type		1 altar	2 altars	3 altars	4 altars	5 altars	6 altars	7 altars	8 altars	9 altars
	Cobalt	276 veins	-	-	138 veins	-	-	92 veins	-	-
	Palladium	249 veins	-	-	124 veins	-	-	83 veins	-	-
	Mythril	-	191 veins	-	-	95 veins	-	-	63 veins	-
	Orichalcum	-	172 veins	-	-	86 veins	-	-	57 veins	-
	Adamantite	-	-	119 veins	-	-	59 veins	-	-	39 veins
	Titanium	-	-	107 veins	-	-	53 veins	-	-	35 veins

• 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.

Ore type		Good luck	Bad luck
	Cobalt	103 (34 + 1 )	11 (3 + 2 )
	Palladium	103 (34 + 1 )	11 (3 + 2 )
	Mythril	89 (22 + 1 )	11 (2 + 3 )
	Orichalcum	89 (22 + 1 )	11 (2 + 3 )
	Adamantite	58 (11 + 3 )	11 (2 + 1 )
	Titanium	58 (11 + 3 )	11 (2 + 1 )

• Note that this is not related to the Luck 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.

• Dirt Block
• Stone Block
• Corrupt grass
• Ebonstone Block
• Clay Block
• Sand Block
• Ash Block
• Mud Block
• Jungle grass
• Mushroom grass
• Hallowed grass
• Ebonsand Block
• Pearlsand Block
• Pearlstone Block
• Snow Block
• Ice Block
• Purple Ice Block
• Pink Ice Block
• Mossy Stone
• Crimson grass
• Red Ice Block
• Crimstone Block
• Crimsand Block

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 Granite Cave, Marble Cave, and Underground Desert biomes.

Achievements

Ooo! Shiny! • “Mine your first nugget of ore with a pickaxe.”

Mine your first ore.

Extra Shiny! • “Mine a powerful ore that has been newly blessed upon your world.”

Mine your first Hardmode ore.

Photosynthesis • “Mine chlorophyte, an organic ore found deep among the thickest of flora.”

Mine your first Chlorophyte Ore.

Notes

• Meteorite, Obsidian and Luminite aren't considered as ores by the game, they don't have "ore" in their names and aren't counted for the Ooo! Shiny! achievement (and Extra Shiny for the Luminite).
• Chlorophyte Ore isn't counted as an Hardmode ore for the Extra Shiny! achievement.

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 exit-nosave command.
  • As of 1.4, using the drunk world seed will generate all six hardmode ores after smashing six altars.
• 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  3DS version, 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. Prior to 1.4, the exceptions are the late pre-Hardmode ores (Meteorite, Demonite/Crimtane, Hellstone), and Chlorophyte, all of which are far more profitable as bars. (Hellstone and Obsidian are unsaleable as ores, and there is no Obsidian Bar).
  • However, as of 1.4, the sell values of Demonite, Crimtane, and Chlorophyte ores were increased, such that the respective bars sell for as much as their components. Hence, it is more efficient to simply sell the ores.
  • Meteorite and Hellstone remain exceptions, although raw Hellstone can now be sold.
• Two ways to quickly find Hardmode ores is to use previously discovered Abandoned mine shafts 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. Prior to 1.4.0.1, Chlorophyte was limited by the amount of mud (and dirt) in the world, however with the addition of Dirt Bombs, dirt can be infinitely created, which can be crafted into mud, which can be used to infinitely create chlorophyte.
• Before the 1.4.0.1 update, Iron and Lead ores did not have bricks.
• Prior to 1.4, despite being a late-game ore, Chlorophyte Ore only sold for 600*6 per ore. This could have been because it can be farmed indefinitely, but its bar (and derivative bars) fell right into sequence pricewise.
  • As of 1.4, Chlorophyte Ores now sells for 1500*15 each, which is exactly in line with their bar's value.
• Luminite sells for the most of any ore, 3000*30 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.

Multiple Tier 1 Ores next to each other on the seed "05162020" (Copper on the left, Tin on the right).

• As of 1.4, both ores of each tier can be mined in the seed "05162020" that was teased in Red's tweet here. This is just one example of the unusual world generation effects that happen on this seed. A case of this can be seen in the picture to the right. For more oddities like this, see Drunk World.
  • Another oddity is that both evil biomes' ores (Demonite and Crimtane) are spawned.

History

 Desktop version

• Desktop 1.4.0.1:
  • Increased the sell values of Demonite, Crimtane, and Chlorophyte.

• Desktop 1.3.0.1:
  • Updated some ore graphics.
  • Introduced Luminite.

• Desktop 1.2.3:
  • Ore now stacks to 999.
  • Chlorophyte is slightly rarer and grows slower.
  • Hardmode ores generate slightly less.

• Desktop 1.2:
  • Added 8 new ores as possible alternatives to the original 8: Tin, Lead, Tungsten, Platinum, Crimtane, Palladium, Orichalcum, and Titanium Ore, ordered by tier.
  • Added Chlorophyte Ore.

• Desktop 1.1: Introduced Hardmode ores: Cobalt, Mythril, and Adamantite Ore.

• Desktop 1.0.2: Mining stone and other hard makes a 'tink' sound now.

• Desktop-Release: Introduced Copper, Iron, Silver, and Gold Ores, Hellstone, Obsidian, and Meteorite.

 Console version

• Console 1.0.933.1: Made changes from PS4's 1.0.750.0 update. ()

• Console 1.0.750.0: ()
  • Updated some ore graphics.
  • Introduced Luminite.

• Console 1.06:
  • Ore now stacks to 999.
  • Chlorophyte is slightly rarer and grows slower.
  • Hardmode ores generate slightly less.

• Console 1.02: Introduced ores from Desktop 1.2.

• Console-Release: Introduced with mining noises.
  • Pre-Hardmode Ores: Copper, Iron, Silver, and Gold Ores, Hellstone, Obsidian, and Meteorite.
  • Hardmode Ores: Cobalt, Mythril, and Adamantite Ores.

 Mobile version

• Mobile 1.2.11212:
  • Ore now stacks to 999.
  • Chlorophyte is slightly rarer and grows slower.
  • Hardmode ores generate slightly less.

• Mobile 1.2.6508: Introduced ores from Desktop 1.2.

• Mobile 1.1.5536: Introduced Hardmode ores: Cobalt, Mythril and Adamantite Ore.

• Mobile-Release: Introduced Copper, Iron, Silver, and Gold Ores, Hellstone, Obsidian, and Meteorite. These make noises when mined.

 3DS version

• 3DS-Release: Introduced with mining noises and generation mechanics from Desktop 1.2.3.
  • Pre-Hardmode ores: Copper, Tin, Iron, Lead, Silver, Tungsten, Gold, and Platinum Ores, Hellstone, Obsidian, and Meteorite.
  • Hardmode ores: Cobalt, Palladium, Mythril, Orichalcum, Adamantite, Titanium, and Chlorophyte Ores.