There are only four pickaxes in Valheim, and the reason players search for the “best” one is almost never damage — it is the moment you swing at a shiny black deposit and your pickaxe bounces off. Pickaxes are the only player weapon class that can mine ore, and each tier unlocks a specific set of deposits. If you are standing in front of obsidian with an Antler pickaxe, no amount of skill will break it.
This guide uses the ore lists and damage numbers published on the Valheim Wiki’s Pickaxes page. Since the Hearth and Home update, pickaxes also cleave — they used to hit only a single target, so they are now usable as an actual weapon, not just a tool.
What each pickaxe can mine
| Pickaxe | Damage (min/max) | Stamina | Mineable deposits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antler pickaxe | Pickaxe/Pierce 18 | 6 | Stone, Copper, Tin, Muddy scrap pile, Abyssal barnacle |
| Bronze pickaxe | Pierce 25/40, Pickaxe 25/37 | 8 | Stone, Copper, Tin, Muddy scrap pile, Abyssal barnacle |
| Iron pickaxe | Pickaxe/Pierce 33/48 | 10 | All of the above + Obsidian, Silver |
| Black metal pickaxe | Pickaxe/Pierce 49/64 | 14 | All of the above + Black marble, Soft tissue, Flametal |
The two unlocks that actually gate progression are the last two rows. Obsidian and Silver require Iron or better, and Black marble, Soft tissue and Flametal require Black metal. Everything before that — stone, copper, tin, muddy scrap piles, abyssal barnacles — is minable from the Antler pickaxe onward.
Why your pickaxe bounces off silver
This is the single most common Valheim mining complaint, and the answer is in the table above: Silver vein and Obsidian deposit are Iron-tier. An Antler or Bronze pickaxe cannot touch them at all, regardless of how many times you swing.
The trap is that silver is found in the Mountains, where you may well have arrived with a Bronze pickaxe because bronze is what the Swamp gives you. You will see the silver glinting under the snow, hit it, and nothing happens. You need to have already smelted iron — which means going back to the Swamp, entering a Sunken Crypt, and getting iron scrap out before the Mountains run is productive.
The same pattern repeats at the endgame: Flametal requires the Black metal pickaxe, which is crafted from the metal you get in the Plains. Black marble and Soft tissue are on the same tier.
Best pickaxe by stage
| Stage | Pickaxe | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Meadows / Black Forest | Antler pickaxe | The only one available; mines everything you can reach (stone, copper, tin) |
| Swamp | Bronze pickaxe | 25/40 pierce vs 18, and 8 stamina — faster copper and tin runs |
| Mountains | Iron pickaxe | Unlocks Obsidian and Silver; nothing else can |
| Plains / Mistlands | Black metal pickaxe | Unlocks Black marble and Soft tissue; highest damage at 49/64 |
| Ashlands | Black metal pickaxe | The only pickaxe that mines Flametal ore veins |
Note that the Antler pickaxe is not strictly “worse” than Bronze for anything you can mine with it — it is simply slower and costs less stamina per swing. Its 6 stamina cost is the lowest in the class, which makes it marginally the most stamina-efficient pickaxe in the game for the deposits it can break.
Is a pickaxe worth using as a weapon?
Since Hearth and Home gave pickaxes a cleaving attribute, they hit multiple targets in a swing. That makes them a legitimate emergency weapon — a Black metal pickaxe at 49/64 damage is comparable to mid-tier dedicated weapons.
The real limitation is the moveset: the wiki notes pickaxes have only a primary attack, a downward swing, and no secondary attack. That removes the combo and stagger options that make dedicated weapons good in the Plains and beyond. So the honest read is: a pickaxe is a fine backup weapon and a poor primary one.
Two things also make carrying one a genuine cost. Pickaxes are heavy, and mining trips usually coincide with being over-encumbered already. Most players solve this by keeping the pickaxe in the boat or cart and swapping it in only when a deposit is actually in front of them.
Practical mining routine
Because the ore gate is tier-based rather than skill-based, the efficient loop is to upgrade the pickaxe the moment you unlock the metal, not when the old one breaks. An Iron pickaxe in the Mountains is not a convenience, it is the thing that makes the biome’s resources available at all.
The stamina cost is the other lever: it climbs from 6 (Antler) to 14 (Black metal), so a full swing chain with the endgame pickaxe costs more than twice as much stamina as the starter. Since mining is a sustained activity rather than a burst one, food matters more than it does in combat — see the food and mead guide for stamina-heavy loadouts.
For the order in which you will meet each of these metals while progressing, the biome progression guide lays out the sequence, and the crafting guide covers the smelting steps. If you have not built a smelter yet, the beginner guide covers the first base, and the survival guide covers staying alive on long mining trips away from it.
Related guides
- Valheim hub — all guides for this game.
- Valheim Best Tools: Every Tool, Plus Which Axe Cuts Oak & Yggdrasil.
- Advanced Valheim tactics.